<p>CS does raise the FAFSA EFC (it's on FAFSA Worksheet B).</p>
<p>I wouldn't advise any informal committments because these are all legal docs, punishable by law for anything but total income honesty.</p>
<p>maybe OP could clarify, but it appeared to me that she was referring to child support in the past tense, as in: dad felt that since he had already "paid" child support in the past, that met his obligation.
in CA, where the OP lives, child support per se normally ends at age 18.
her question is about holding her dad to the court order that he pay 50 % of college costs, not about child support, the way I read it.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>say the dad pays out $20,000 a year for child support- that would be from income that he would have to report on taxes and on PROFILE.>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>And remember too, that schools using the Profile will also REQUIRE a non-custodial parent filing of income as well. AND the folks awarding finaid do not care a lick about your divorce decree when viewing this. Say, for example, that the non-custodial parent income is $500,000 per year, but the divorce decree says that this parent has to pay child support until age 18 and then all agree he/she will pay nothing for college. It won't fly with the finaid folks. Simply put, every wealthy non-custodial parent on the planet would have a stipulation put in their divorce decree saying they "do not have any obligation to pay for college". Sorry...but that simply isn't allowed by schools using the Profile. For students who have a custodial parent with minimal income and a non-custodial parent with a LOT of income, their best bet is FAFSA only schools.</p>
<p>It sounds like OP's dad thinks his support payments should have been reserved for college, which is ridiculous. In MA, those CS continues through the college years or the child is emancipated, whichever happens sooner. If the parent's Divorce Order says they are each responsible for 50% college costs, then it's a cut and dried matter, and he would be in Contempt to not provide it. The courts would act extremely fast on that.</p>
<p>Yes, CSS Profile looks at everybody's income, custodial and non, and all stepparents, regardless of what Divorce Orders say. Where tthe Divorce Orderr comes into play is when people actually have to pony up the EFC and any gap.</p>
<p>Yes, I remember reading that about MA..they are lightyears ahead of CA, and probably the rest of the country, on that one!
we all know divorced dads who may resent paying cs for so many years, that when college comes, if they aren't ordered to do it by the court, they just figure they're "done"; a lot of lawyers don't get this put in the original settlement, esp if kids are very young when the divorce takes place.
I am in that situation...the best approach for me has been to keep dad in the loop, try to keep things amicable and not demand anything, but just hope he will do the right thing....meanwhile preparing myself in case he won't! That said, when push came to shove and he had to fill out the non-cust Profile, I saw that he did put down a contribution that he said he would make. D has a very good relationship with him, and so do I. This was the best we could do.</p>
<p>Message to anyone getting a divorce: if your state isn't progressive enough to have laws dealing with this like MA, get an arrangement specified in your divorce settlement if at all possible.</p>
<p>I was lucky, my attorney addressed the issue of college in the original order entered in 1989. The only bad thing is most courts will not base contributions to college on Ivy League tuition. In Illinois it is based on cost to go to the best state school, in our case University of Illinois, therefore, dad was ordered to pay only half of about $22,000 not the $42,000 to $50,000 that school will actually cost. The difference is left to the custodial parent or child. Is this fair? I don't know, truth be told she could get a great education at U of I. My brother, who is on the other side of the fence, thinks the system is unfair since any custodial parent, or non-divorced dad, can tell his kid "I'm not paying" and no one can force him. Parents cannot be forced to pay for college so should divorced/absent fathers be required by the court? I don't know, I can see both sides of the argument. I will do whatever it takes to get d through whatever school she choses with a minimal amount of debt ($10,000 to $20,000) for her.</p>
<p>I think there should be some way for the court to evaluate the relative assets of each party and make a fair determination at the point when the child starts looking at colleges, assuming that either party is being unreasonable.
daviban- good summary of the issues on both sides
its a tough one
something should be done though, because the Profile and most school's policies are out of sync with the realities of the laws, which in most states don't require the non-custodial parent to kick in</p>
<p>wecandothis, I agree there should be a better way. The Illinois Courts do look at the assets of each parent, sworn financial affadavits are presented to the judge along with payroll records, bank statetments etc.. Illinois believes that a child should be entitled to a college education, just not a $50,000 a year education. I don't know what I think on that piece. Part of me believes that if a child has worked hard enough to get into an Ivy or Top LAC then he/she deserves to go, on the other hand, U of I is an excellent school. I do wish Illinois had a small state school (think Mary Washington in Va.) then my daugher may have considered the state route. We do not have and truly small state schools and the ones with less students are not much academically.</p>
<p>My d's father has never seen her, walked out when I was pregnant. He is a teacher, married, and has another child. I know that alot of the friction comes from his current wife. They make over $100K a year and live in an area with a cost of living that is 1/3rd of mine. His lawyer asked me in court what my house cost, I responded $219,000 (years ago) and she said that was ridiculous. My attorney jumped up and stated that one could not purchase a trailer in my county for less then $175,000. The whole issue is upsetting. I have always planned to provide on my own, anything added is a bonus. I had one attorney tell me that college contributions would be based on "relationship" and since d and dad did not know each other he would not have to pay. It has always been his choice not to be involved, I have offered and begged time after time for him to start a relationship with his daughter. Glad that attorney was wrong!</p>
<p>daviban- wow, nice guy (your ex). well at least you have an excellent case to present to any Profile school as far as the limitation on his contribution. I believe they will usually not expect anything from a non-cust parent if there has never been any contact..
you will have to rely on professional judgment, which will vary from school to school; hopefully there will be at least one that will not factor in anything to your EFC from him beyond what the court ordered, since there has been no contact.
reminds me somewhat of my divorce when my kids were both in private school pre-divorce, but then dad didn't want to pay anymore and wanted to yank them out of their school (in the middle of the divorce). the judge, who was very pro-dad, said if I wanted them in private school I'd have to pay for it! pvt school was the status quo for my kids, my d had been in pvt Montessori since age 3 and at the time of divorce was in the 2nd grade..but the judge didn't care.
don't get me started on an off topic rant..
but this is the kind of fall-out kids of divorce have to deal with, and it really should be more fair. first they have to deal with divorce, then they have to deal with not getting the funding they need from their parents for college.</p>
<p>be glad your ex is at least expected to chip in the 11 K..keep us posted, or PM me, and best of luck to you and your d</p>
<p>Thanks, I did not have to worry about the whole divorce thing, we just lived in sin :) It will be interesting to see how it all pans out. Right now we have other things on our minds, my d had her foot x-rayed for a possible fracture and they found a tumor. Waiting for the test resuilts is killing me and her. Suddenly, paying for college or getting accepted doesn't seem so important. Amazing how it puts things in prospective. It has been over a week since the x-ray and I don't think I have slept 10 minutes. Ooops, I am thread jacking.</p>