I want to preface this with the fact that I don't receive a cent of support from my parents and haven't since I was 18. The college I did attend, I paid for.

Something I can't explain to my parents is that I dropped out of college and have no desire to return. And that they're not telling me anything new when they say stuff like "You know, a degree is pretty much essential in today's job market." Yes, I know. It is the same message that my generation has been receiving since birth. I've received the message and have considered it in my decision making process. I'm not trying to sound like a brat, but please stop trying to push college on me. Unless you intend to hand me the money right now to go to college, please stop trying to make me spend money I don't even have on something that you think I can't live without. Just please, stop it. The only thing you're accomplishing by quoting statistics and telling tales of friends who didn't get a degree and are now poor/homeless/flipping burgers/scrubbing toilets/doomed for eternity is making me anxious, stressed, and less likely to call you.

And when you tell me that not going to college is a "waste of a brilliant mind", it makes me feel like shit. I guess you mean it as a compliment. But it sounds like you think I'm wasting my life. Or that just because I did well on my SATs, I owe it to you and everyone else to go to college. Why do I receive more pressure than everyone else? Why is it that you don't say things like that to my brother? Why do you tell him that you just want him to be happy and able to support himself, but I get the "waste of a brilliant mind" bullshit? Why don't you push him as hard as you push me? Because you think he's dumb? Because you think I'm Einstein? Either way, I don't like it.

This has turned into a rant, so I'm going to cut out here. I try to empathize with parents and where they're coming from, I really do. But enough is enough. You want to support me and pay my tuition while I graduate? Want to take the loans out in your name and be responsible for paying them back? Be my guest. Otherwise, please just stop it. I love you. But stop. This isn't okay and it's starting to affect how much I want to be around you. For example, I'm currently dreading coming home for Thanksgiving.