<p>Unfortunately, I have seen this situation time and again. My closest friend went through this. For whatever reason, divorce lawyers do not seem to address college costs as fully as they should. In the case of my friend, she never dreamed that her husband who is a surgeon would ever reneg on paying the kids' educational costs, as both of them were committed to raising the kids to the best of their abilities despite the divorce. But 10 years later, the picture had changed. He had been the guardian of the Unified Gift to Minors accounts that grandparents had funded and he used those monies to pay private school tuitions which was permitted, and he did not tell anyone he had done this. I think he was taken aback at the cost of a private education and he did not want to pay for the school where the daughter was acccepted. He did not want to face the issue until he had to which was when the deposits were due. A lot of times assets and payments are being discussed in for divorce settlements, the cost of college becomes a real sticking point as it is an indeterminable cost. And lawyers and clients both are eager to leave that point behind and get to the meat of the matter involving division of assets and monthly payments.. It is my opinion that any divorce settlement require that both parents pay their share of what financial aid documents of the college of choice allocate as EFC. Not being an attorney, I do not know why college payment is often so vaguely approached in child support settlements. </p>
<p>Too many parents are convinced that if Harvard or whatever school accepts their kid, the money will come somehow, somewhere. They have not fully accepted that financial aid basically hands you a mirror for payment responsibility. When it happens it is a nasty surprise to all involved. There is too much press out there saying that no college should be off limits for monetary reasons, that you would be surprised how much aid is available (yeah, right). You hear it , read it and want to believe it. </p>
<p>I think Sybbie's advice and scenario is sound. Perhaps a few words with Dad could shake a few more dollars from that source. If Mom could come up with half, and the the kids works like a maniac summers, weekends, etc, it may be doable with some loans. </p>
<p>I have never heard of a case where the father is involved that a school comes up with money because he refuses to pay more than a set amount. Often what happens is that the family sweeps the father under the rug and claims he has abandoned them, and the $10K is slipped under the table while the kid get financial aid based on mom's income. I see this abuse all of the time, and well understand why. But to excuse the father from paying because HE is setting the limits, creates a dangerous precedent. We can all set our limits for the colleges as to what we want to pay. I , too, would love to limit tuition payments to $10K a year as the amount we want to pay. It's not the way it works.</p>