I agree it's tough, but it's not that my parents refuse to pay... I just don't think they can afford to pay, given the amount of stress they have from paying th

I agree it's tough, but it's not that my parents refuse to pay... I just don't think they can afford to pay, given the amount of stress they have from paying their mortgage. There's such a crude measure of "ability to pay" that it doesn't take into account the different circumstances; that a family sitting on a load of debt (1+m), making 150k (together) in the Silicon Valley on an underwater property, is not more well off than a family with no debt, a paid-for property, making 70k a year (with only the dad working), living in Florida.