Funding Your Child’s College Education After Divorce

Each spring thousands of New Jersey high school seniors undergo the process of applying to colleges and universities to continue their education. The cost of college tuition, room and board and related expenses can be exorbitant. While the financial strain of funding a child’s higher education to intact families is significant, it is often more of a burden for divorced parents of soon-to-be high school graduates. Over 30 years ago, the New Jersey Supreme Court determined that divorced parents could be held financially responsible for the college education of their children. In analyzing the reasonableness and level of such an obligation, the Court set forth a number of factors to be weighed by Judges. These factors include, but are not limited to:

• The amount sought by a child for the cost of such college education
• The financial ability of the parent or parents to pay those costs
• Whether the parent would have contributed toward the costs of college if the family were still intact
• The financial resources of the child including bank accounts of the child or whether the child has college savings accounts
• The ability of a child to obtain grants and scholarships
• The aptitude of the child
• The educational level of the parent or parents
• The child’s relationship with the parent from whom financial contribution is sought

A more complete list of the factors noted above can be found on the College and Education Obligations page of Lindabury.com. The cost of higher education is not limited to just tuition and fees such as application and registration, but potentially room and board, books, transportation, course related materials and supplies, a laptop computer and even items incidental to the child moving into a dormitory (i.e. bedding, microwave, etc.). These expenses are in addition to the parents’ child support obligation. Many parents are misinformed and believe that child support ceases when a child starts college. Child support obligations continue until a child is emancipated under the law. However, if a child attends college and lives away from home, often times the child support amount can be reassessed based on these new circumstances. The discussion about college education expenses for your child and the allocation of these expenses between you and your “ex”, should start in fall of the student’s senior year of high school but certainly not any later than mid-March of the child’s senior year. The financial capability of parents to meet these expenses is often a key component which needs to be resolved as far in advance of the date of school selection as possible. For over 30 years, the family department at Lindabury has been assisting our clients in guiding them through this process (both the custodial and non-custodial parent alike). This generally requires a full review of the parties’ settlement agreement together with a complete examination of any and all factors which the Court will consider as well as a review of the family’s and child’s circumstances. Lindabury’s Family Law Group has decades of experience representing clients in all aspects of divorce and other serious New Jersey family law matters. We provide the full range of divorce and family law services and are easily accessible from our Westfield New Jersey office.