Bamboccioni: Italian Court Orders Father To Pay For His 28-Year-Old Son’s Advanced Degree Education

In Italy, there is a term “bamboccioni” or chubby child or big babies to refer to children who are staying with their parents for longer and longer periods into their adult years. One decision however has shocked many Italians in Modena in Northern Italy where a court ordered a middle-aged father to keep supporting his 28-year-old son financially. The son wants another academic degree and the court held that the father remains liable for the costs.

The father is divorced and living on a modest income through his writings. However, the court rejected his argument that, at 28-years-old, his son should get a job and support himself. The son has already completed a degree in literature though taking additional time to do so. He now wants to enroll in a post-graduate course in experimental cinema in Bologna. The father will be required to pay for that advanced degree.

Most parents would continue to pay for the education of their son if they could do so. However, after a boy reaches the age of majority or finishes high school, that obligation becomes a discretionary matter. In other words, if you want to get Daddy to pay for your experimental cinema advanced degree, you have to convince Daddy.