Mar 05, 2014 10:18 AM EST By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

If you know your parents have the money , but refuse to pay for your college education, are you forced to take legal action? If only the case between Rachel Canning and her parents were that simple.

Canning, a New Jersey high school student who claims she was kicked out of the house when she turned 18 -- her parents say she left voluntarily because she disagreed with their rules -- is suing her parents for the rest of her high school tuition ($5,306), court fees ($13,000) and future college expenses, Yahoo reported.

Though a family court judge ruled against Canning's bid for high school tuition, her parents said they would at least cover the high school and college ends if their daughter moved back in the house. The next court date to decide college liability is in April.

"Private school, new car, college education; that all comes with living under our roof," Sean Canning, Rachel's father, told ABC News station WABC-TV.

Since moving out in October, Canning has been staying with her best friend, whose father happens to be an attorney and has so far been funding her courtroom battle (but has not chosen to represent her), according to ABC.

"My parents simply will not help me any longer," Canning wrote in a statement. "They want nothing to do with me and refuse to even help me financially outside the home although they certainly have the ability to do so. ... I am unable to support myself and provide for my food, shelter, clothing, transportation and education."

The court room was the first time Canning had seen her parents since October. Even so, she barely looked at them throughout the proceedings, ABC reported.

"We'd be whole and healed as a family if she were back home," Mr. Canning, a former New Jersey Police Chief, said. "And I think she's being enabled. I think she's being steered down the wrong area and it's killing us."

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