Opportunity knocks, but it’s up to you to answer the door.

So when one young woman took her father up on his long-standing promise to fund college, her older sibling was furious to learn the same money wouldn’t be handed over for his startup plans after he dropped out.

Suddenly, they had a tense family showdown on their hands.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for using my brother’s college fund for my own education?

My parents have always made it clear that education was important to them. My grandparents couldn’t help my dad through college, and he had to work multiple part-time jobs to support himself.

He doesn’t hold that against them, but he always told us how difficult it was and how working so much caused him to miss out on extra opportunities such as clubs, sports, social events, networking, etc.

So his parents always made sure to put money away for education, and he struck a deal with his kids.

Because of that, he started saving for me and brother.

Since we were kids he made his “deal” super clear: if we got into college, he would pay for everything — living expenses, tuition, and extracurricular activities.

But both siblings both proceeded to take different approaches to their education.

I [F22] always took that to heart, and my dad fulfilled his end of the “deal” for my undergrad.

My older brother [M29], on the other hand, didn’t like school and dropped out after freshman year. He hasn’t gone back since and has been living at home working part-time jobs on and off.

I recently got into my dream grad program, and my dad offered to pay for my program.

The brother made it clear he expected to use this money for other things.

When my brother found out that my dad would be using “his” money, he lost it.

My brother and his friend wanted to start a business and had planned on using that money for it.

But this is never what their father agreed to.

My dad said that he made it explicitly clear that the money would be used for school. Even if my brother went to community college, he would be able to use the money.

But he refused to finish college, so my dad said that was on him and he wasn’t entitled to the money.

Although, her older brother still gets help in plenty of other ways.

Plus, my parents still pay for my brother’s living expenses (food and rent), so I personally feel like he got a fair deal.

I know that school isn’t for everyone, but my dad made it super clear what the money was for: education.

Now her sibling is taking it incredibly personally.

My brother isn’t talking to me anymore, and he’s threatened to skip all future family functions, causing my mom to be really hurt and upset.

She feels pretty torn up about it.

I do feel like an AH because I want to take the money for my own gain (not being in debt from school), and it’s been causing my mom a lot of stress.

But on the other hand, I feel like it’s my dad’s choice and my brother had 10 years to figure out going to school to get the money.

It sounds like this was a pretty fair deal from the start.

What did Reddit think?

This commenter doubts her older sibling has the drive to make his business work.

It’s clear her brother takes his parents’ support for granted.

Oftentimes staying out of other people’s conflicts is the best way to go.

This user concurs: It’s the dad’s choice.

The college fund paid for exactly what it was meant to — college.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.