College payment for divorced parents

<p>HI - a question on how schools bill divorced parents. In the divorce agreement, it is agreed to split the cost 50/50 between the custodial and non-custodial parents. Is it possible for your average school to bill the two parents separately?</p>

<p>I’m married but my DS is the one who is billed not us. He had to give us permission online in order for us set up a parent pay account. The account allows us to see and pay his bill. I have to believe where ever your student is going it will be similar and you should be able to set up 2 accounts. We don’t have to pay all his bill at once so you would just have to make sure both parents paid half.</p>

<p>Your child will be the one who is billed.</p>

<p>Yes, have never heard of a situation where the bill went anywhere but to the student. It can make life tough if the student doesn’t share this info in a timely manner or give parents access to financial info. Made my sister crazy at the various Us her kids attended.</p>

<p>Anyone given the information can make payments to the account. D’s grandparents have some money for the kid’s education - rather than having them send it to us and we send it in, we gave them the account info and they sent their payment in directly. So figure out what 50% is and you can each send that in once your son has a statement.</p>

<p>All three of the colleges I’ve had to pay have had parent access login and password to the billing and payment information. Colleges may keep the info in the student portal, but they aren’t stupid about how the majority of bills are paid!</p>

<p>Schools dont usually send ANY bills anymore. The total bill shows up online. Your child can give you access and then youll see the charges and then the two parents can split in half and each pay their share. </p>

<p>The school isnt going to get involved with pursuing one parent or the other. If the bill isnt paid in full, the child will suffer.</p>

<p>My guess is that the school isn’t going to waste its time figuring out which of your parents to bill and how much money they both owe, but will be happy to take the money, regardless of who it comes from.</p>

<p>It’s your parents’ job to divvy up the payments; it’s the school’s job to accept those payments. Don’t ask the school to divvy up the money.</p>

<p>My ex and I mailed in our halves separately. Each of us just printed out the bill and mailed it with our share to the college. When the $ arrived, the college credited the payment. Never a problem.</p>

<p>The school will send the student a bill…probably electronically. There will be a deadline for payment. To be honest, they don’t care how the divorced parents pay that bill. But it DOES need to be paid, and in full, on time. If the bill is not paid, the student’s registration for classes is in jeopardy.</p>

<p>There can also be a late payment penalty if payment is received after the deadline (tho you can plead for a waiver and MAY be granted). Us have the power position–they can hold your student’s courses and other things hostage if you are tardy.</p>

<p>These responses are all so helpful - thank you! </p>