Raising a child to adulthood is incredibly expensive. Parents have to provide their children with health insurance, shelter and clothing for their constantly growing young bodies. Educational expenses can be a significant cost to consider when evaluating parental responsibilities and financial obligations.
Particularly in cases where children want to pursue careers that require college degrees, parents may have to save for years to afford college expenses and earmark income to cover costs during a child’s college years. When parents divorce or separate, they often have to work together to absorb major expenses for their children.
Child support is one of the ways that parents can share financial responsibility for their children despite living in separate households. Can the courts impose child support obligations that continue through the college years to help cover post-secondary educational expenses?
Child support ends before college
There are two points at which child support obligations may end. In some cases, child support ends when a young adult turns 18 years of age. Other times, financial support obligations for parents end when a young adult graduates from high school.
Typically, support lasts until the child achieves the latter of those two milestones. A young adult who graduates when they are 19, for example, may receive support past their 18th birthday. A child who has skipped a grade and who graduates when they are 17 can continue receiving support until they become a legal adult.
Unfortunately, there are no provisions in Texas state law that allow the courts to mandate continued child support throughout the college years. Even if a judge could demand that a parent provide support during college, the formula used for child support calculations does not take the exorbitant expenses of college tuition, dorm rooms and textbooks into consideration.
Parents may have to create their own arrangements
Parents who worry that their divorce could interfere with a child’s college ambitions may need to take steps to address college expenses ahead of time. With the right plan, it may be possible to share college expenses without relying on child support.
Parents can put together a written agreement where they agree to a certain amount of support or to accept responsibility for a certain percentage of college costs. Given that parents typically want what is best for their children, supporting a young adult during college may be one matter on which they can both agree.
Understanding the rules that apply to child support can help people as they plan for life during and after divorce. Parents with college-bound kids may need to consider their circumstances carefully as they prepare for divorce and shared custody.
