Courtney - Thanks for saying that about Platteville. I believe the same. My husband went to Univ of Wisc Platteville and talks highly of the education he received. The hands-on ability to dig-in to and use equipment, etc was wonderful. Plus, his teachers knew his name and interacted with him for years post college. My husband is highly regarded in his field and is currently CTO and founder of a 20 Million dollar company with 12 patents with some pending. He sometimes wishes he had gone to Madison for the alumni excitement and Badger spirit, but that’s the only thing he feels he missed. (OH, by the way, his best friend went to MIT and guess who is more content and financially successful? - not the friend)
Let me make it clear from the start that I am not saying this is something you should do or that I recommend it, only that you should be aware it is a possibility. And that is you could probably get a lawyer from the law school there (they probably have a clinic that deals with student matters at no charge or a reduced fee) to send your father a letter informing him he is in breach of contract. You have a verbal contract with him for at least the first semester if not the first year which is no doubt enforceable, and possibly for all four years. Now I know I don’t need to go into how difficult a proposition this is with regard to action against a close family member, but as someone else said he is being a jerk by not holding to his promise for at least long enough for you to transfer in good standing to an Illinois state school.
Anyway, like I said just wanted to put out there the idea of another path. In normal cases the threat is often enough to get action, but family is always different.
^ Verbal contracts may be enforceable, but are notoriously hard to prove. “No doubt” enforceable is a bit strong here.
I think not in this case. What student that came from a home that was intact at the time would start at any college and have no idea how to pay for it? Given the extremely common situation where parents pay for undergraduate college and the facts as explained here (including that he already paid the first portion. That act indicates recognizance of the agreement.), the plausibility of her claim is almost undoubtedly going to be believed by a judge or jury. I would also assume her mother would also support her claim, although of course with a divorce going on that testimony is meh. But regardless, this is an issue that seems almost beyond dispute.
Such stories appear here from time to time. Students with wishful thinking, or parents who say, “don’t worry about it, we’ll figure it out.”
We’ve heard one side of the story. In a he said/she said, a judge or jury will lean heavily on the credibility of testimony. We have no idea what the father’s side is, or how credible either party would be on the witness stand, if this “verbal contract” disagreement ever saw the inside of a courtroom. Calling it “almost beyond dispute” based on the limited information provided here, by one person, is a huge leap.
Well, I do agree we have heard only one side. Always a dangerous place from which to extrapolate. But I still have to say that if the facts are even close to how they have been presented, then:
is very weak compared to the millions of ordinary situations where the parents pay. And I say again, if she is telling the truth that the father already made a sizeable installment payment, her story is more than just credible. Remember, the burden of proof in a situation like this is not beyond a reasonable doubt, but just the likelihood of who is more credible. Do you really think if the facts are even close to what she is saying, and then adding in common sense and the vast, vast majority of experiences in cases of children from upper-middle class homes going off to college, that you wouldn’t believe her over him? Now I agree that if she is seriously misleading us, that is a different story. But where does that get her in asking for advice?
Does your mom have access to joint accounts? If I were in her position and the money was there, I’d write a check so you could finish the semester then have you take a leave of absence while I hammered out a divorce agreement that included college money. Do you have siblings? If so, she should ask the court to have your dad deposit money into separate 529s (one for each child). @BelknapPoint would probably be able to tell you how it needs to be titled so your dad can’t take the money out later.
^^
I don’t think the money was ever there. Unless there is a college savings acct somewhere, the dad’s income (mom doesn’t yet work) was never high enough to pay for this.
any savings that they might have is probably being used as retainers for two attorneys.
This situation simply sounds like many we’ve heard about before. A parent who is bad or naive about money over-promises. I don’t know this situation, but often this leads to marital breakdown.
To emphasize it again:
You will owe the tuition and room and board. Not your parents. It is unlikely your dad signed any promise to pay with the school. Usually the student is 18 and an adult and signs the enrollment forms. They will go after you. You need to do whatever you can to minimize the amount you owe. It’s on you.
You are not divorced, are you @austinmshauri ? This is far from the way most divorces are settled. If there is plenty of money then they are fighting about how to divided the money (or future money and responsibilities), but in most cases there is very little money and they are fighting about how to divide the debt. It sounds like there are no pots of money to divide in this case, just debt and future debt.
The law in my state ends mandatory child support at 18/high school grad. The court can take that fact into consideration in ordering child support for younger children (make the NCP pay more while the children are minors) but unless the parties agree, it ends at 18. Most of the rest of child support is decided by a formula. You put in the amount he makes, the amount she makes, the number of overnights with each parent, the number of kids and the formula spits out a support number. The court has a little leeway, but not much, with that number.
OP hope you have gathered the information and spoken with your parents.
IMHO you need to find a way to pay for the current semester at U WI (if parents don’t pay the balance), and either enroll at CC/local college close to home where your costs will be less for 2nd semester - and maybe you can find a job to help manage your expenses while living at home (or potentially living with a relative close to a in-state college option). Won’t get your semester records/transcripts until the bill at WI is paid. You already have some student debt and your parents’ changes in financials/divorce mean you have to be more self sufficient.
Let us know how things settle out.
We have no idea what the facts are, and the experience of other families means nothing to this family. In order for me to make a determination on who is more believable, I would need to hear directly from both of them.
Well, that is simply not true. Common sense plays a huge role in determining credibility, and absent very particular facts, general experience plays a huge role in common sense.
And we do have a presumption of what the facts are. In a forum such as this, you can only go on what is presented. If the OP has misled us, then they alone know the advice is likely worthless. If they have been truthful, then perhaps the advice has merit. Simple as that. I am not claiming that CC is the same as a courtroom. There is always the implicit presumption that the advice is based on the situation being presented factually. To then point out otherwise is a waste of time; we all know that if the OP presented a false situation everything else is probably worthless.
so where is the OP? Has not been back since the date of the original post.
I can not imagine any other information could be added to this thread without more info from the OP.
^^Recovering from the Badger loss to Ohio?