The family lawyers at Vetrano | Vetrano & Feinman LLC have years of experience assisting families through divorce and support matters. Many divorced or separated parents ponder how to finance their children’s post secondary education. If you are in this situation, you may wonder whether a child support obligation can include the cost of college tuition and expenses. In 1992, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found a parent’s obligation to provide child support ends when the child turns 18 or graduates from high school, whichever occurs later. Blue v. Blue, 616 A.2d 628 (Pa. 1992).
Many parents encourage their children to pursue a college education and would like to provide financial support. Since the cost of a college education has increased dramatically in recent years, many parents willing to share in the expense wish to enter into an agreement requiring both parents to contribute to the child’s college education. Although a Pennsylvania court will not order a parent to contribute to a child’s college education, the parties can agree to provide for their child’s post secondary education in a property settlement agreement or an agreed order for support. Once the parties consent to provide for college support, the Court will enforce the terms of their agreement.
The family law attorneys at Vetrano | Vetrano & Feinman LLC can help you negotiate, an agreement regarding your child’s post secondary education. We will make certain that you consider details to ensure the parents’ contributions to a post secondary institution are reasonable and appropriate for your child. We will address any limitations on your ability to contribute to college if there is a change in circumstances such as a job loss, involuntary reduction of income or disability. We may also include parameters in the agreement (i.e. the child must be a full-time student and maintain a certain grade point average) to warrant parental contribution to college expenses.
If you are interested in negotiating an agreement regarding post secondary education, a family lawyer from King of Prussia’s Vetrano | Vetrano & Feinman LLC can help. Please contact us at (610)-265-4441 to decide whether such an agreement makes sense in your circumstances, and if so, how you should proceed. Visit the Vetrano | Vetrano & Feinman LLC website today at https://www.vetranolaw.com/ to learn more.
