<p>Not sure if this is the right place for this question, but here it is:
I am a divorced father paying child support.
My son was admitted to college and will start this fall.
My divorce paper does not specify anything about sharing college costs.
However I have offered my ex to pay 1/2 tuition and 1/2 R&B (minus the child support amount)
Seems like she agrees so far.</p>
<p>This should be an agreement between us (so far accepted) and this should spare me one more trip to the family court to modify paper work
Just to be on the safe side, is this OK?</p>
<p>The colleges don’t care what your arrangement for payment is…but YOU might want to more formalize this, and so might your former wife. Sometimes what sounds good today does not sound so great in the future to one party or the other.</p>
<p>I would want this in writing, and I would want this if I were your former wife.</p>
<p>You two should also discuss things like what happens financially if he fails a class, needs to take another year–whether it’s his fault or due to cruddy scheduling, if he wants to go greek/have more expensive housing, or live off campus with a girlfriend, or decides he wants to transfer to a private school…etc etc…all of those happen and some families have had “the talk” ahead of time that we will pay for 4 years, if you can’t do it in that or are a slacker you are on your own…whatever. Best. </p>
<p>Without a written agreement this could get messy.
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<p>agree with the above. many kids take more than 4 years to graduate because they change majors, drop classes, etc. If you expect your child to graduate in 4 years then make sure your child KNOWS that and so does your ex.</p>
<p>Your child may choose a school that costs $65k per year. Are you going to pay half?</p>
<p>When you say “minus child support,” what do you mean? Will your college-bound child still get child support? or will that end when he graduates from high school? or do you mean the child support for younger children in your exwife’s home? If so, that’s not fair.</p>
<p>What if your child gets some scholarships? will you split the benefits? </p>
<p>also…if your child will be attending a CSS Profile school that uses your income, and your income is much higher than your ex’s, then the school isn’t going to care about any agreement. </p>
<p>When does child support end according to your divorce agreement and state law? You should talk to an attorney about this because you never know when things like this get ugly Misunderstanding or someone gets angry. A lot of scenarios have been presented already.</p>
<p>Costs for school can range from nothing to well over $60K a year. Just agreeing to pay half is a very general agreement. </p>
<p>Also check to see what your state statute normally is for paying for college expenses. Here is a blurb from my divorce agreement. It is possible you are still covered by a statute even if it wasn’t in your papers.</p>
<p>The extent of the parties’ respective obligations hereunder shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of Section 513 of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act or by any applicable statutory provision in force at the time in question. </p>
<p>You don’t say if child support is ordered until 18 or 21 or college, and if you pay through a court registry or not. If it is through a court registry, they are going to continue to take that amount no matter what you agree to.</p>
<p>I’d continue with the court ordered support, and then take the cost you agreed to pay (1/2 tuition, r&b) and subtract the child support from that, and then pay that amount to the school. That way you can condition the school payment on anything you want - grades, limited to 4 years, less any scholarships or grants, etc. Keep the two payments separate even though they are in fact related. Then if college falls through, you are still making child support payments as ordered.</p>