Who Pays for College Tuition When the Parents are Divorced?

The costs of daycare have reached stratospheric levels, but they are still a drop in the bucket compared to the costs awaiting parents at the opposite end of the spectrum – college. While the largest cost is tuition, there is also housing, food, transportation, books, and a host of miscellaneous fees as well. At an in-state Florida university, these costs can easily top $25,000 per year and private universities can cost more than $100,000 per year.  Paying for this is daunting for any parents, but especially for those going through a divorce.

Florida law requires parents to financially support their children until age 18 or until the child graduates from high school, whichever comes second. However, the required support ends there. Florida law does not require parents to pay for their child’s college education. If your divorce is not yet finalized, you can negotiate with your spouse to include contributions for college in your marriage settlement agreement (MSA). An MSA is a legal document that lays out the terms of the divorce, such as child support, timesharing, and how all your assets and debts will be divided.

If your spouse is amenable to including requirements for paying for college in the MSA, it will be important to set up specific parameters to avoid misunderstandings and unpleasant surprises later on. Some of the points you may want to include are:

• Will you pay for private school or only public? In-state or out-of-state? Commuting or living on-campus?
• Will you each pay 50%? Will you divide the costs proportionally by income?
• Will you expect the child to pay for a certain percentage of costs themselves or will the two of you cover all the costs?
• Will you cover the costs for an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree? What if the child wants to attend graduate or professional school?

It’s important to keep in mind that even with a well-drafted MSA, issues still may occur. For example, if your ex-spouse were to lose a job, have medical problems, etc., they may not be able to uphold their end of the agreement. In the case of hardship, it is unlikely that the courts would compel them to pay, even if it is included in the MSA. To mitigate the risk of this, some couples require one another to regularly make contributions into a 529 or other college savings account.

Florida law does not require parents, whether married or divorced, to fund their children’s college education. If you live in South Florida and are contemplating divorcing your spouse, contact Troy Legal. We are compassionate, expert negotiators who have a track record of success in securing fair, positive outcomes for our clients and their children.