When I was in college, my mom helped me out a lot with financial aid. I didn't know wtf to do, and she had already gone through the process with my sister.

Whenever I would get financial aid at the beginning of each semester, she would tell me to send her all of the remainder except for like $1000 which I would use over the semester. She gave me a bunch of excuses as to why - she was using it to pay down my loans, she was placing it in a bank account because I didn't need that much money for the semester, etc. I trusted her because she was my mom and she wouldn't do anything bad, right?

During the school year, I ended up having to get a job to support myself because I just didn't have enough money to live on. I didn't mind it at the time. I liked my job and they were very flexible with my hours, but I wouldn't have had to do that if I just kept the financial aid I received instead of giving it to mom. At the time, whenever I asked mom for money, I would always get this big speech about how I needed to be more fiscally responsible and how money doesn't grow on trees. It made me feel guilty even though, in my mind, I was pulling from financial aid that was mine, just that I didn't have access to because I'm a dumb kid who would just blow through it.

My mom passed away from cancer at the end of my sophomore year. I estimated there should have been about $10k worth of leftover money in the back account. I found out the bank account never existed and that my mom spent all of the money I gave her. The money that I could have used to supplement the rest of my education because my financial aid got fucked when she died and I had to use my dad's tax information who made almost twice as much money. Instead, there was no more money and I had to take out several student loans to cover the rest of my degree.

Fast forward a couple of years later, and I've graduated and trying to find a job. I have no income and the grace period on my student loans has expired. I get the collection calls and find out that not only did my mom use the money that I gave her, but also took out several other student loans in my name and used that money as well. It took me years of energy and debt validation in order to get those loans taken off my record.

I love my mom, but I will never forgive her for this. She basically put me in financial ruin before I even got out the gate. My credit has never fully recovered and it has been five years since I've graduated. The worst part is that I can't even have any kind of closure since she's gone, so I'll never find out why she chose to do this.