--- title: Rachel Canning Teen Who Sued Parents Gets Scholarship for $56,000 description: College counselors, take note canonical: https://time.com/47108/teen-who-sued-her-parents-gets-a-56000-college-scholarship/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-02T18:50:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:08:26.327Z og:title: Teen Who Sued Her Parents Gets a $56,000 College Scholarship og:description: College counselors, take note og:url: https://time.com/47108/teen-who-sued-her-parents-gets-a-56000-college-scholarship/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta311bc58a6c03dbd/698684ec06f2c126ce32dce8/rachel-canning.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: High school senior Rachel Canning, 18, appears in Morris County Superior Court in Morristown, N.J., on March 4, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Teen Who Sued Her Parents Gets a $56,000 College Scholarship twitter:description: College counselors, take note twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta311bc58a6c03dbd/698684ec06f2c126ce32dce8/rachel-canning.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Teen Who Sued Her Parents Gets a $56,000 College Scholarship by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Apr 2, 2014 6:50 PM UTC  High school senior Rachel Canning, 18, appears in Morris County Superior Court in Morristown, N.J., on March 4, 2014. High school senior Rachel Canning, 18, appears in Morris County Superior Court in Morristown, N.J., on March 4, 2014.Bob Karp—Daily Record/AP by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Apr 2, 2014 6:50 PM UTC Litigation might be an unconventional extracurricular activity, but that didn’t stand in Rachel Canning’s way of [receiving a $56,000 college scholarship](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/04/02/rachel-canning-chooses-college/7195715/). In case that name doesn’t ring a bell, Canning is the made-for-reality-television teen who [unsuccessfully sued her parents for child support after she ran away from home.](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/n-judge-denies-teen-request-funds-suit-parents-article-1.1710802) Canning, who ended up moving home after the unsuccessful lawsuit, posted on her Facebook that she would be attending Western New England University in Springfield, Massachusetts in the fall, and that she wouldn’t be going empty handed: “Decision made. WNE U class of 2018 BME Major w/ 56,000$ scholarship,” she posted Saturday. It was removed by Tuesday. [In an email to ](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/04/02/rachel-canning-chooses-college/7195715/)[_USA Today,_](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/04/02/rachel-canning-chooses-college/7195715/)a WNEU spokesman said that merit scholarships run between $22,000 and $66,000 and are granted over the course of four years. One of Canning’s main reasons for her lawsuit was that her parents were refusing to pay for her education if she didn’t abide by their rules. (She also accused her father of [“inappropriate affection” ](http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Rachel-Canning-Parent-Lawsuit-Financial-Support-New-Jersey-Eating-Disorder-Abuse-Sue-248407851.html)and her mother of encouraging an unhealthy body image). Canning’s parents said that she moved out because she wouldn’t abide by their curfew or stop seeing a boyfriend they didn’t approve of. A judge thought that she was just “spoiled.” College counselors, take note. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/47108/teen-who-sued-her-parents-gets-a-56000-college-scholarship/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/47108/teen-who-sued-her-parents-gets-a-56000-college-scholarship/"},"headline":"Teen Who Sued Her Parents Gets a $56,000 College Scholarship","datePublished":"2014-04-02T18:50:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:08:26.327Z","description":"College counselors, take note","url":"https://time.com/47108/teen-who-sued-her-parents-gets-a-56000-college-scholarship/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Living","society","College","College Admissions","Scholarship"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta311bc58a6c03dbd/698684ec06f2c126ce32dce8/rachel-canning.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta311bc58a6c03dbd/698684ec06f2c126ce32dce8/rachel-canning.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"High school senior Rachel Canning, 18, appears in Morris County Superior Court in Morristown, N.J., on March 4, 2014.","caption":"High school senior Rachel Canning, 18, appears in Morris County Superior Court in Morristown, N.J., on March 4, 2014.","creditText":"Bob Karp—Daily Record/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/47108/teen-who-sued-her-parents-gets-a-56000-college-scholarship/","name":"Teen Who Sued Her Parents Gets a $56,000 College Scholarship"}}]}] ```