Disclaimer: I'm very lucky to have parental support from my parents etc. I'm early 20s and they have been very kind to me over the years. No hand-outs per se, but being there for me and supporting me on the odd occasion while I was a student. They also let me live with them during uni holidays.
They are very well-off, which is entirely due to their own hard work and scrimping. My dad had a good job but they both came from very humble backgrounds and made smart financial decisions, so it has certainly not come easy to them. They are also both very frugal.
I recently had an extremely unexpected demand from university to pay £1600 (fees), a lot of money. Student Finance are dragging their feet about it and I'm right in the middle of exams so quite stressed about finding this money.
My dad has very kindly stepped up and said that my parents will cover it. He said that my parents intended on giving me some money when I graduate this year so they will take it out of this sum. Very very kind.
When my mum heard about it though, she became almost cross?? She insisted on me sending them the email, asked if there was interest attached to it, quizzed me about it. I feel like crying! She has always been very suspicious and hesitant where money has been involved, which I find so unfair as I have never ever relied on parental hand-outs to get by! I had a job throughout university and virtually supported myself.
I really want to try and pay for it myself now as a matter of principle but I really can't find the money in a matter of days. Why is she being like this?! She has always been like this. A few months ago I received a rent deposit back from my landlord (about £600) which had originally been paid for by my parents. My dad said I could leave the money in my account "for emergencies" but my mum demanded it back (well not actually but she expressed her disapproval so much that I instantly transferred it).
I hate this attitude!! 
I feel like a fucking criminal.
AIBU?
Mother weird about money
seriouslysusannah · 07/05/2016 21:06
I'm with forever on this - I expect (as it is an odd thing to come up now) she just wants to check it out and satisfy herself that it's a genuine demand. On the positive side it sounds like you don't need to worry about them being scammed as they get older 
op I suspected that might be the case re: your parents and their jobs. My parents had the same situation: my dad was by far the main earner and was/is calm and collected with money, whilst simultaneously being very generous. My mother earned a meagre amount in comparison (all my dad's money was family money, all her money was hers 
) but when she retired she got incredibly defensive/adversarial about THEIR money, in the way you describe your own mum.
The way I saw it, my dad had a quiet confidence about the fact that we loved and respected him regardless of how much he brought in. My mother did not, and that gaping void of self-confidence was filled up with her acting like a big influential person wrt THEIR money. My dad didn't do that shit because he didn't need to.
Just wondering if any of that resonates.
By the way op, my 27yo DSis is living in my parents' home, with no job and paying no rent, while my dad lives overseas setting up a new business venture. She is slowly changing the house into her own - it is filled with boxes of literal crap (old broken things she's been meaning to sort through etc) and she has acquired cats. She gets annoyed at our DF when he asks what her plans are in life (not grilling, more in terms of conversation) and makes his infrequent stays in the UK unpleasant in the hopes that he'll leave more quickly.
So you could be a LOT worse 
I expect I'll be the grateful one if mine come back home in the holidays and not go off galavanting with their friends
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