Question for Single Parents with Children in College

[Jodi1980]

After the child support ends and you have children on their way to college, are they able to fully support themselves if you can no longer help them?

 

[Serena]

Child support is supposed to last through the college years too.

 

[jennyanydots]

child support ends at 18 unless the parties agree or the court orders otherwise -- in most states. in NY parents have an obligation to support a child to age 21.

my agreement with my ex requires him to pay support until our girls are 23 if they're still in college and also requires him to pay a prorated share of tuition.

my older daughter is just starting high school but I did speak with a financial aid expert.

the expert advised me that financial aid is usually calculated based on the custodial parent's income and any child support the custodial parent actually received.

Jodi, your daughter's financial aid will be calculated on your income. if the college financial aid formulat calculates that you cannot provide her with any financial assitance, they'll calculate her aid accordingly.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Well you have to provide your financial status by way of the FAFSA and then they base the amt. of aid on that.
Their are grants but can't count on them.

http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/

Don't do "work study" as it takes away from your score.

 

[disneychrista]

Originally posted by Serena
Child support is supposed to last through the college years too.

This is not always true. I believe here (in California) it is through the their 18th birthday or High School Graduation.

 

[Serena]

Well, you learn something new every day. I shouldn't have assumed all the states were the same.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Some colleges have their own form which requires information from both divorced parents. That's what happened in DH's case. Then, my job was considered in figuring my step daughter's financial aid(and no, I wasn't too happy). DH even tried to see about ignoring any references to my income on his financial statement, but the school said that if DH didn't fill it out completely, his daughter couldn't receive anything! It got to a point where he called his lawyer, who advised him that although his original divorce decree had said child support ended at age 18, if his daughter went to college, his ex could take him back to court to continue child support and undoubtedly win. So DH ended up paying for some of her college, rather than pay legal fees.

 

[disneychrista]

Originally posted by Simba's Mom
It got to a point where he called his lawyer, who advised him that although his original divorce decree had said child support ended at age 18, if his daughter went to college, his ex could take him back to court to continue child support and undoubtedly win. So DH ended up paying for some of her college, rather than pay legal fees.

Which IMO is only right.