Retake exam fees. Who should pay?

[iliveere]

Hi
New to this. Something has come up and want to get a consensus on the right way to go. My stepson is retaking his A levels so the maintenance has continued to be paid. The retake fee is £120 which as a favour we were asked to loan while his mum was away. Now that we are asking for this money back, his mum is asking if she should pay us the whole amount back. We do pay the occasional extra (driving lessons etc) but should we pay part of this exam fee? Also do you think he should pay something towards it too?

I think the fairest thing would be for both parents to pay 50/50, as long as both can afford to do that.

If he has a job, and money is difficult for both or either of his parents, then it would be reasonable to ask him to pay something towards it too. However he will be under additional pressure, and have more revision to do as a result of resitting, so if it was my DC I would just pay for it and not make a big thing about it (but I could afford to do that).

Hi
Thank you. I don't feel that we shouldn't contribute. Very happy to contribute and I think it will be 50/50 based on this feedback. I only asked the question to get a feel for what is fair. His mum had originally thought it was her responsibility as we pay her each month. So when the question of us paying some came up, I thought I would see what people think. Only want to do whats fair for all :)

Presumably maintenance is for feeding him and keeping him warm, possibly contributing to his clothes, etc, rather than for paying for exam retakes?

The son should be paying anyway, does he have a job to support himself through FE?
The problem is if you bail them out all the time it doesn't do them any good in the long term.

Your dh/dp needs to get together with his child's mother and talk about what they are prepared to pay and what the son is expected to do in return or pay for himself.