A Woman Said Her Boyfriend Jokes About Her Being His ‘Sugar Mama’ — She’s Worried the Joke Might Actually Be His Plan for Grad School

A girlfriend thinks her boyfriend might consider asking her to put him through grad school. Her fears stemmed from jokingly calling her his “sugarmama.” When she turned to the subreddit for advice, commenters urged her to take the relationship concerns seriously. 

@No_Tale4664 shared her story on the SubReddit ‘Girl Dinner Diaries,’ over some steamed lime and garlic branzino. The 26-year-old and her 29-year-old boyfriend have been together for four years and met when she was in her last year of college. 

She opened her post with background on both of them before describing her concern. Now, she claimed to be a stereotypical elder daughter who is independent and fairly settled in her life.

He is apparently the stereotypical youngest son who still lives at home. Before they met, the beau settled for a low-paying job, hoping it would help him enroll in a PhD program on his boss’s account.

However, six years later (and four years into their relationship), he’s in the same low-paying job, hoping to get his doctorate. 

The Girlfriend Thinks This is Where the Problem Began…

Now, although she’s proud of him, the woman has attempted to break out of the low-paying pattern and figure things out. The girlfriend thinks he hasn’t particularly adhered to it. And apparently, he wants to propose to her amid all of this. 

Naturally, she expressed her concern and told him to hold off on it until he enrolled in a PhD program and completes it. When they talked about reaching financial stability and then pursuing grad school, he had a different perspective. 

The boyfriend presented hypothetical scenarios in which partners supported each other financially through graduate school. He also mentioned that he wanted to start a life with her. Her concern, she said, was not starting a life together but the possibility that he expected her to finance it. 

Apparently, he repeatedly jokes about her being his “sugar mama” since she does make more. But she doesn’t want to end up resenting him for financially supporting him throughout their lives. 

On that note, she told Redditors that she does love him but feels pushed into making a choice when he’s lived a “laidback” life for years. She hopes users on the forum would be able to guide her during this difficult time, and they did. 

Reddit Asked Her to Be Open to The Truth…

The story got over 1,500 upvotes and 1,400 comments with advice, stories, and encouragement for the woman. Many asked her to make the painful decision of letting him go and moving on. A user highlighted the “sugar mama” joke. 

They noted, “He’s not joking. You’re about to be used for money.” This comment sparked a thread of stories with similar experiences of partners expecting the other to be financially responsible for both of them.