Allocating College Education Expenses in Divorce

Key Points:

Courts can order parents to contribute to their child's college costs as part of their ongoing support. Whether and how much varies by state.

Child support and college costs may be connected. Depending on your jurisdiction, support may continue past age 18; in Massachusetts, it can run to age 23 for a child enrolled in an undergraduate program, and the 2025 Child Support Guidelines now require courts to consider support and college contributions together.

Courts generally don't order college contributions too far in advance or after the fact.

Federal financial aid rules changed: since 2024, the parent who provided the most financial support files the FAFSA, not the parent the child lives with.

The best protection against ongoing litigation is a detailed college provision in your separation agreement.

Family court judges around the country are addressing issues concerning college education expenses, in large part due to the increasing cost of college and the growing acceptance of college as a necessity to future economic independence. The numbers explain the anxiety: the Massachusetts guidelines commentary notes that four-year college costs have risen roughly 250 percent since 1976, adjusted for inflation. Not surprisingly, divorcing parents are often anxious about how to pay for the future cost of college, especially when it coincides with the expense of maintaining a second household. Here is how courts and well-drafted agreements handle the question, along with the financial aid rules every divorced parent now needs to know.

The Connection With Child Support

Before getting to college expenses, we need to talk about the related child support. Divorcing or divorced parents want to know how the allocation of college costs will affect their child support order. Depending on the jurisdiction in which you live, child support may continue beyond age 18, and while college costs can affect child support, the interaction is sometimes complicated.

For example, under Massachusetts law, child support can continue until a child reaches age 23 if the child is enrolled in an undergraduate educational program, domiciled with one parent, and principally dependent on that parent for support. A child is considered domiciled with a parent even while living on a college campus for the academic year, so long as that parent's home remains the child's permanent base.

Massachusetts updated its rules again with the 2025 Child Support Guidelines, effective December 1, 2025. The guidelines direct courts weighing support for children over eighteen to consider factors including the parents' available resources, the cost of the post-secondary education, the availability of financial aid, and the allocation of college costs between the parents. Two changes are worth knowing. First, affordability is now an explicit consideration: courts must weigh whether a parent would need to borrow or liquidate assets to meet a college contribution. Second, when a judge orders both child support and a college contribution, the guidelines now require the two orders to be considered together, so a parent isn't effectively paying for the same expenses twice.

In addition to child support, some states require parents to contribute toward their children's college expenses. That's right: a court can order you to pay for your child's college education, even though married couples would never be ordered to support their children this way. In Massachusetts there is no bright-line rule on the amount, and the court's decision rests on the factors above. However, absent written findings to the contrary, a parent's contribution is capped at fifty percent of the cost of in-state resident undergraduate costs at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. That benchmark has a real number attached: for the 2025-2026 academic year, the guidelines commentary puts the UMass figure at $37,015 for tuition, mandatory fees, housing, meal plan, and books, which caps each parent's default obligation at roughly $18,500 per year. If a college contribution is ordered, the judge should factor it into any weekly child support order, but outcomes can vary widely from judge to judge.

One important note for readers outside Massachusetts: states differ dramatically on this issue. Some states authorize courts to order college contributions, others end all parental obligation at the age of majority, and the factors and caps vary everywhere. The Massachusetts framework here illustrates how one state approaches it; consult a family law attorney in your state for the rules that govern you.

Allocation of College Expenses by Court Order

When divorcing or divorced parents disagree about responsibility for college costs, they can ask the court to determine and order the allocation. The court has discretion to do so, but that discretion has boundaries. In Massachusetts, case law holds that only in limited circumstances may a judge order future college expenses for children who are not approaching college age. Child support orders are meant to address children's current needs, not distant future ones, so judges may not look too far ahead when allocating college expenses.

Parents should be equally wary of waiting until after a child is already attending college to ask the court to make the other parent contribute. Massachusetts courts have been very hesitant to order a parent to pay for college after the fact, especially where that parent had no opportunity to participate in the college decision. The practical window, then, is neither too early nor too late: address these issues during the child's high school years, before graduation, and keep the other parent in the loop on the search. A parent who was consulted on the choice is far more likely to be ordered to help pay for it, and far more likely to agree without a courtroom.

Allocation of College Expenses by Agreement: Drafting Tips

The better path, whenever possible, is agreement. To avoid future conflict, divorcing parents and their attorneys should consider and address multiple factors when drafting college expense provisions in a separation agreement, such as:

Whether the child will attend a private or public college.
Whether any of the tuition and fees will be the responsibility of the child.
Whether the obligation of the parent paying child support will be reduced when the child begins college, in consideration of that parent's contribution toward college expenses.
Whether standardized tests, like the SATs and ACTs, will be covered by a parent's contribution toward college expenses.
Whether parents cover the cost of college visits, and if so, whether the number of visits should be limited.
Whether parents will cover application fees, and if so, whether the number of applications should be limited.
Whether parents will cover the cost of second visits after acceptance.
Whether parents will contribute toward extra costs, for example a vehicle for the student and school supplies such as a computer.
Whether the child is required to enroll as a full-time student.
Whether there is an expectation that the child will reside on campus.
Which educational institutions qualify: the agreement should make clear whether vocational programs count, as well as study abroad programs.
Whether one or both parents will be responsible for meeting with third parties who assist in the process, such as a guidance counselor or college advisor.
How information on college searches will be shared between the parents and child, and whether both parents will be granted access to the child's academic records once in college as a condition of their obligation to pay.
Which parent is responsible for completing financial aid forms and applications.
Whether a parent's obligation to contribute continues if the child has poor academic performance.

Two more provisions belong on that list today, and they get their own sections below: how the family's 529 savings will be owned and used, and which parent will serve as the FAFSA contributor.

The FAFSA Changed: What Divorced Parents Must Know Now

For decades, the federal financial aid rule was simple: the custodial parent, the one the child lived with most, filed the FAFSA. That rule is gone. Under the FAFSA Simplification Act, effective with the 2024-25 aid year, the parent who provided the most financial support to the student over the previous 12 months completes the FAFSA, regardless of where the child sleeps. If support is exactly equal, the parent with the greater income files.

This matters strategically, and your agreement should account for it:

Which parent files can change the aid award. The FAFSA counts only the filing parent's (and any stepparent's) income and assets. Families where the lower-earning parent legitimately provides the most support may see meaningfully better aid eligibility than under the old rules, and vice versa.
Stepparents count, prenups don't. If the filing parent has remarried, the stepparent's income and assets must be reported, and the Department of Education disregards prenuptial agreements that purport to exclude them.
Child support received counts. Support received by the filing parent is reported, which factors into the aid calculation.
Private colleges may ask for more. Many schools that use the CSS Profile require financial information from both parents' households, so the FAFSA rule is not the whole story for every school on the list.

Because "who provided the most support" now drives federal aid, a well-drafted agreement should designate which parent will be positioned as the FAFSA contributor and how support payments will be structured with that in mind. This is precisely where a certified divorce financial analyst earns their fee.

Don't Forget the 529 Plan

If the family has college savings in a 529 plan, the divorce agreement should answer three questions plainly. Who owns the account after the divorce? What may the funds be used for, and for which children? And what happens to any leftover balance? A 529 owned by one ex-spouse remains under that person's legal control, including the power to change beneficiaries or withdraw funds (with penalties), so an agreement that simply assumes the money will be there for tuition is an agreement asking for trouble. Common protections include naming both parents as recipients of account statements, requiring consent for non-education withdrawals, or splitting the account into two.

There's also a financial aid wrinkle worth knowing: a 529 owned by the parent who is not the FAFSA contributor is not reported on the FAFSA at all, and under current rules distributions from that account no longer count against the student either. Coordinated correctly between cooperative ex-spouses, account ownership and the contributor designation can legitimately improve a child's aid picture. Coordinated poorly, or not at all, the same accounts become one more thing to litigate.

Getting Some Help

Feeling a bit lost? It's completely reasonable to get advice from a financial professional. They can help make sense of your budgeting and obligations, model what different college scenarios mean for both households, and coordinate the FAFSA and 529 questions above. Read more about how a financial planner makes a difference in divorce and whether a certified divorce financial analyst is right for your situation.

Conclusion

In sum, addressing college expenses by agreement is advisable whenever possible. If divorcing parents put the issue in their divorce agreement, they should include sufficient detail about the college search process, the costs covered, the 529 accounts, and the financial aid roles, or at minimum plan to engage in that discussion early in the child's high school years. College is expensive enough on its own. Parents who add litigation on top of it can find themselves spending the equivalent of a year or two of tuition just to get a judge's answer on who pays, money that both households, and the student, needed for the education itself.

This article discusses Massachusetts law as an illustration and is for general informational purposes only; it is not legal advice. College contribution rules vary significantly by state, and guidelines change. Consult a family law attorney in your jurisdiction about your specific situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a court make me pay for my child's college after divorce? In many states, yes. Courts in states like Massachusetts can order divorced parents to contribute to college costs based on factors like each parent's resources, the cost of the school, and available financial aid, though caps often apply. Other states end parental obligations at the age of majority. Your state's rules control, so ask a local family law attorney.

Does child support continue while my child is in college? It depends on your state. In Massachusetts, support can continue to age 23 for a child enrolled in an undergraduate program who remains domiciled with and principally dependent on a parent, and the 2025 guidelines coordinate that support with any college contribution order. Many states end support at 18 or high school graduation.

Which divorced parent fills out the FAFSA? Since the 2024-25 aid year, the parent who provided the most financial support over the previous 12 months, not the parent the child lives with most. If support is equal, the higher-earning parent files. If that parent has remarried, the stepparent's finances are included regardless of any prenuptial agreement.

What happens to a 529 plan in divorce? The account remains under its owner's legal control unless your agreement says otherwise, so the divorce agreement should specify ownership, permitted uses, beneficiary protections, and what happens to leftover funds. Ownership also affects financial aid: a 529 owned by the non-filing parent currently isn't reported on the FAFSA.