Hello everyone,

I understand that the problem I have is probably much simpler than what many others are going through and I would like to thank you in advance for your time reading this post.

I am getting concerned about my sister's behavior, which reflects a self-entitled attitude coupled with increasing lying to my parents to cover her tracks. Long story short, she is pursuing a 5-year higher degree and has ended up extending it to 7 years as she continually fails her exams. My parents are supporting her and have expressed concern that the degree may not be suitable for her. She has insisted that it is and they have assured their full support.

While we have all been trying to be supportive of her, especially since she doesn't have many friends at school, I am also getting increasingly aware of the lies she tells my parents and the self-entitled way she behaves. For example, she scoffed at her school for letting her re-sit a year, a privilege not extended to students in general, saying that all they wanted was money and therefore she deserved to stay. She complains about my parents (esp my mom, who is the more involved one) checking up on her during a period where her school psychologist diagnosed her with depression. Most significantly, she has never once admitted that her exam results may be due to her lack of discipline (she parties, vacations and watches tv shows during the pre-exam period and then stresses out during the week right before exams). Instead, she blames her professors, classmates, even the general education system for preventing her from developing the skills needed for her degree.

Recently, I discovered that she has been lying to my parents, making them believe she was studying/visiting a friend when actually she was going to clubs/parties or vacationing with her boyfriend. They pay for her trips if for example she says she has to go out of town to celebrate a birthday/meet a friend since they feel that this may help her to be happier, knowing that she has few friends at school. I don't think they would have granted her permission (or money) if they knew the truth. Now that she has returned to my parents' home for the summer vacation, she has been lying to them more and more frequently, saying she was doing some late-night studying at cafes when she was really going to night clubs. I know the truth as my sister either tells me the actual story (and I hear a different version from my mom) or I see it from the pictures and updates on her social network site. Knowing that there is quite a bit at stake here - her upcoming exams in a month, the fact that my parents are supporting her thinking that she is also doing her part and the fact that she is clearly abusing my parents' trust without any sign of remorse - I am not sure what to do. On the one hand, I am afraid that if I talk to her or my parents, she will just end up hiding all the details from everyone. On the other hand, I feel uncomfortable keeping my parents in the dark when they had made a deal with my sister that they would support her if she showed that she was working hard. She felt so overwhelmed with her degree that my mother reassured her it was ok if she didn't pass - the most important thing was that she tried her best and gave herself a chance. My feeling is that my sister sees this as a way to continue keeping her carefree lifestyle while pretending to study and therefore "fulfilling" her side of the bargain. Somehow, she doesn't understand that at one point, she will have to be responsible for her future.

I feel that my sister's behavior has developed to a point where I just don't know how to react. She doesn't take kindly to criticism, or even gentle probing, especially if forced to acknowledge that she has made mistakes. Should I keep quiet about her lies and stay out of the situation since I am not directly concerned? Or risk losing her trust by calling her out on her deception?

Thanks for listening! Any advice at all would be really appreciated.