Your child got into college. Then comes the question neither parent wants to argue about: who pays? If you’re divorced or separated, the answer isn’t automatic — and it’s not the same in every state. Parents are often surprised how different the answer becomes once you cross a state line.
- There is no federal law requiring divorced parents to pay for college — the answer depends entirely on state law
- States like New Jersey, Illinois, Washington, and Indiana permit courts to order parental college contributions
- States like Texas and Florida cap child support at age 18 or high school graduation — college expenses cannot be court-ordered
- In states that allow it, college support requires a separate petition with strict filing deadlines — it is never automatic
- Parents in any state may agree voluntarily in a divorce decree to share college costs, and courts will enforce that agreement as a contract
Whether a court can order child support college expenses or a separate contribution to tuition depends entirely on where the child support order was issued. Some states give courts broad authority to compel parental contribution. Others cap support at age 18 and leave college entirely to the parents’ voluntary choices. Family law looks very different depending on the state line you cross.
There is no federal mandate on this. The law here is state law, and the gap between states is significant.
Does Child Support Cover College Expenses?
Standard child support — the monthly obligation calculated under state guidelines — does not cover college tuition, room and board, or fees. Guidelines in every state are built around the everyday costs of raising a minor child: food, housing, clothing, transportation, medical care. A college student’s costs are a different category entirely.
The question isn’t whether standard child support covers college. It doesn’t, anywhere. The question is whether a court can issue a separate order requiring one or both parents to contribute to college expenses specifically — and that is where state law splits sharply.
A lot of people assume child support automatically continues through college. That assumption is wrong in most states. In Texas, child support under Texas Family Code §154.001 ends when the child turns 18 or graduates from high school, whichever is later. College attendance doesn’t extend it by a single day. The court simply has no statutory authority to order college contributions. Florida works the same way under Florida Statutes §61.13.
That rule surprises a lot of parents.
The states that do permit college support orders treat them as a separate legal proceeding — not a continuation of minor child support. A parent seeking college contribution must file a new petition, meet specific procedural deadlines, and satisfy a set of statutory factors before a court will order anything.
Which States Require Parents to Pay for College?
A significant minority of U.S. states permit courts to order divorced or separated parents to contribute to college expenses. The authority varies — some states grant courts broad discretion, others have detailed statutory frameworks. None of them make college support automatic.
New Jersey is one of the most court-active states on this issue. N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(a)(5) expressly lists “the need and capacity of the child for education, including higher education” as a factor courts must consider when determining support. New Jersey courts operate under the multi-factor framework established in Newburgh v. Arrigo (1982) — a New Jersey Supreme Court decision that built the analytical structure still used today. That framework requires weighing the child’s academic ability and desire to attend college, both parents’ financial resources, the availability of financial aid, and what college opportunities the child would have had if the family had remained intact.
Illinois has the most codified college support regime of any state in the country. 750 ILCS 5/513 gives courts explicit authority to allocate college educational expenses between divorced or separated parents. The statute defines covered expenses, sets a financial cap tied to a specific public university, imposes an academic performance requirement, and establishes a hard age ceiling. It is a comprehensive framework, not a loose grant of discretion.
Washington authorizes post-secondary educational support under RCW 26.19.090. Courts consider whether the parents would have paid for college had they remained together, the child’s academic performance, and whether the specific school choice makes economic sense given the projected career field.
Indiana also permits college support orders. Under Indiana Code §31-16-6-2, basic child support ends at age 19, but courts may separately order parents to contribute to post-secondary educational expenses. That is a distinct proceeding from the minor child support obligation — not an extension of it. Judges see these disputes every admission season — and they apply the statutory factors, not their personal opinions.
Other states that permit some form of court-ordered college contribution include Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Oregon. The rules differ in every jurisdiction.
Which States Do NOT Require College Support?
In a majority of states, courts have no independent authority to compel a parent to pay for college after the child reaches the age of majority. Child support ends at 18 or high school graduation, and that’s the ceiling.
Texas is the clearest example. Texas Family Code §154.001 limits child support to minor children. There is no §513 equivalent, no post-secondary support statute, no mechanism for a court to reach into a parent’s income and fund a college education. A Texas court cannot issue that order. That’s the law. Whether parents like it or not. Parents learn this rule the hard way every year.
Florida operates similarly. Courts can extend support to age 19 if the child is still in high school full-time, and to an indefinite period for children with a mental or physical incapacity that prevents self-support. But college attendance for a healthy 18-year-old does not extend the support obligation.
Here’s how this plays out differently depending on where you live. Say two parents divorce in Texas when their daughter is 10 years old. Support runs until she turns 18. Eight years later, she’s accepted to a university. The custodial parent has no legal mechanism to compel the other parent to contribute to tuition. Now run the same scenario in Illinois. The custodial parent can file a petition under 750 ILCS 5/513, present evidence of both parents’ finances and the child’s academic record, and a judge can allocate tuition, room and board, and fees between both parents — with the amount capped at the cost of attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign regardless of where the child actually enrolls.
Same country. Completely different outcome.
How States Handle College Support: A State-by-State Comparison
| State | Court-Ordered College Support? | Age Cap & Key Rule |
|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | Court-Ordered College Support? Yes — broad court discretion under N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23 | Age Cap & Key Rule Hard cap at age 23. Custodial parent must file before child turns 19. |
| Illinois | Court-Ordered College Support? Yes — explicit statute (750 ILCS 5/513) with detailed rules | Age Cap & Key Rule Age 23 (25 for good cause). Tuition capped at University of Illinois rate. Child must maintain C average. |
| Washington | Court-Ordered College Support? Yes — court discretion under RCW 26.19.090 | Age Cap & Key Rule Age 23. Costs allocated between parents and child proportionally based on incomes and resources. |
| Indiana | Court-Ordered College Support? Yes — courts may order post-secondary support under Indiana Code §31-16-6-2 | Age Cap & Key Rule Basic support ends at 19; courts may separately order post-secondary educational expense contributions. |
| Texas | Court-Ordered College Support? No — courts have no statutory authority to order college contribution under Texas Family Code §154.001 | Age Cap & Key Rule Support ends at 18 or high school graduation. Voluntary agreement only — not court-ordered. |
| Florida | Court-Ordered College Support? No — no post-secondary support statute for healthy adult children under Florida Statutes §61.13 | Age Cap & Key Rule Support ends at 18 (19 if still in high school). Voluntary agreements enforceable as contracts. |
What Factors Do Courts Consider When Ordering College Expenses?
In states that permit college support, courts don’t just pick a number. They run through a list of factors. The decision to order contribution — and the amount — depends on what the evidence shows about the child’s academic trajectory, both parents’ finances, and what the family’s realistic college expectations would have been without the divorce.
New Jersey courts apply the Newburgh v. Arrigo multi-factor framework, which includes the child’s ability and desire to pursue education, the expectation the family would have sent the child to college had the marriage remained intact, each parent’s financial resources, what financial aid is available, and the reasonableness of the chosen institution relative to the parents’ means. Courts rely heavily on this decision — it is the controlling framework in New Jersey today.
Illinois courts apply four factors under 750 ILCS 5/513(j): the present and future financial resources of both parties, the standard of living the child would have had if the marriage hadn’t ended, the financial resources of the child, and the child’s academic performance.
Washington courts focus on three core questions under RCW 26.19.090: Would the parents have paid for college had they stayed together? What does the child’s academic record show? Does the cost-benefit of the specific college make economic sense — an inexpensive state school for an engineering degree carries more weight than an expensive private school for a field with limited earning prospects.
Take a situation where a parent earns $45,000 a year and the other earns $90,000, and the child has a 3.7 GPA and wants to attend a state university. In Illinois, a court is likely to find college support is appropriate, and will allocate costs proportionally to each parent’s income share after applying the UIUC cost cap. A parent earning $90,000 who argues they “can’t afford” college while driving a luxury vehicle is going to have a difficult day in an Illinois courtroom. Courts frequently ask to see acceptance letters and financial aid award letters.
And yes, courts ask for transcripts.
What College Expenses Can Courts Order Parents to Pay?
In Illinois, the statute is specific. 750 ILCS 5/513(d) covers tuition and fees — capped at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in-state rate for the same academic year — room and board at a standard double-occupancy rate with a standard meal plan, books and supplies, medical insurance and expenses including dental and vision, and transportation costs. If the child lives with a parent and commutes, courts can order a contribution to reasonable food, utilities, and transportation instead of room and board.
That UIUC cap is the most important number in Illinois college support law. It doesn’t matter if the child attends the most expensive private university in the country. The parents’ combined maximum contribution for tuition and fees is pinned to what UIUC costs for that academic year. The gap between the UIUC rate and the actual cost belongs to the child to cover through loans, scholarships, or their own resources. That’s the statute. Full stop.
Washington covers tuition, housing, books, and supplies. When the child commutes from home, courts can allocate a reasonable share of food, utilities, and transportation. RCW 26.19.090 also directs that payments should go directly to the educational institution whenever feasible — not to the other parent.
New Jersey doesn’t specify a statutory cap. Courts weigh the reasonableness of the institution chosen relative to the parents’ incomes and the academic trajectory of the child. A wealthy parent may be ordered to contribute to an expensive private school. A parent of modest means may not. The outcome is far more fact-specific than in Illinois.
How Does Financial Aid Affect College Support Orders?
Financial aid reduces what parents owe. Courts in every state that permits college support expect the family to exhaust available grants, scholarships, and federal loans before determining the parental obligation. Courts calculate support on what’s left after aid — not on the sticker price.
Illinois is the most direct about this. Under 750 ILCS 5/513(b), courts have explicit authority to order both parents and the child to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and submit it before the applicable deadline. Courts can also order parents to fund up to five college applications, two standardized entrance examinations, and one exam prep course. A parent who refuses to complete the FAFSA can face contempt — the court has the tools to compel cooperation.
New Jersey courts follow the same expectation. The Newburgh v. Arrigo multi-factor analysis requires the court to account for all financial aid available to the student when determining how much each parent owes. A child who receives a $20,000 scholarship sees that amount reduce the parental pool, not their own benefit.
529 college savings accounts get specific treatment in Illinois. Under 750 ILCS 5/513(h), a 529 account established before the divorce is considered the child’s resource, factored into the cost calculation accordingly. Any post-judgment contribution a parent makes to a 529 counts as that parent’s contribution toward their obligation.
The child’s own resources — part-time income, savings, work-study earnings — also reduce the parental obligation in states where courts have discretion. A student who is fully capable of working and refuses will likely see that reflected in how the court allocates costs. Courts want to know exactly what aid is available before allocating costs. Understanding how child support is calculated at the standard guideline level helps clarify why college expenses require an entirely separate analysis — the guideline formula was never designed to include post-secondary costs.
How to Request College Support: Deadlines and Filing Rules
Procedural timing is not a technicality here. In several states, missing the filing deadline means losing the right to seek college support permanently. This is one of the most consequential traps in family law — and one of the least understood.
In New Jersey, the custodial parent must file a motion with the court before the child turns 19. The NJ Courts guidance is unambiguous: child support automatically terminates at age 19 by operation of law under N.J.S.A. 2A:17-56.67 unless the custodial parent files before that birthday. If you wait until after the child turns 19, the court has lost jurisdiction to extend support. The window closes. That’s it.
In Illinois, there is no retroactivity. Under 750 ILCS 5/513(k), any obligation is retroactive only to the date a petition is filed. Pay two semesters of tuition out of pocket and then file, and you cannot recover those costs. The petition clock starts when it’s filed, not when the child enrolled. Attorneys routinely advise clients to file the petition in the child’s junior year of high school so that pre-college costs — exam prep, application fees, entrance exams — can be captured from the start.
In Washington, the petition for post-secondary educational support must be filed before the existing child support order ends. Under Washington law, if the current order ends when the child turns 18, the petition has to be filed before that 18th birthday. Administrative orders from the Division of Child Support end at 18 — or 19 for a full-time high school student — and cannot include post-secondary support. Only a court order can authorize it.
All three states share one critical rule: you cannot get post-secondary support through an administrative child support order. It requires a court.
What Happens If Parents Already Agreed to Pay for College in the Divorce?
A divorce decree that expressly promises college contribution is an enforceable contract. That’s true in virtually every state, including Texas and Florida where courts otherwise have no independent authority to order college support.
But the language in the decree matters enormously. There is a significant legal difference between a decree that says “the parties shall contribute to college expenses pursuant to 750 ILCS 5/513” and a decree that says “the parties agree to split college tuition and fees equally.” The first is a placeholder referencing a future statutory process — the obligation still has to be established through a petition. The second is a contract with a specific enforceable promise.
In Illinois, a divorce decree that merely references §513 without a specific dollar commitment or percentage does not create an immediately enforceable obligation. It sets the table for a future petition. It is not the meal.
A decree with specific, unambiguous language is different. If a parent agreed in a signed settlement to pay 60% of tuition and fees and then refuses, the court treats that as breach of contract. The enforcement mechanism changes, but the obligation doesn’t disappear.
A verbal promise to pay for college, made in front of the child but not in a court order or signed settlement, has no legal weight anywhere. You cannot enforce a promise that doesn’t live in a document the court can read.
Can Unmarried Parents Be Ordered to Pay College Expenses?
Yes — in states that have the statutory authority, unmarried parents face the same college support obligations as divorced parents once parentage is legally established.
Illinois makes this explicit. 750 ILCS 46/802 requires courts to apply the relevant standards of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act — including §513 — when determining educational expenses for a non-minor child born to unmarried parents. Once parentage is on the record, the path to college contribution is the same whether the parents were married or not.
Washington’s post-secondary support statute operates the same way. The statutory framework doesn’t distinguish between children of married and unmarried parents.
One procedural note in Illinois: only a parent or guardian can file the petition for college contribution — not the child. The 2016 amendments to §513 eliminated third-party standing for children to sue their own parents for college costs. If a parent who could file is deceased or legally incapacitated, the child may need to explore alternative legal paths, but the default is that the petition must come from a parent or guardian.
Courts applying child support arrears rules to college orders treat missed payments the same way — automatically accrued judgments that cannot be retroactively erased.
How the College Support Calculation Works in Practice
Say a student enrolls at Northwestern University. Total annual cost: approximately $85,000. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in-state rate for the same year: approximately $32,000. Under 750 ILCS 5/513, the parental contribution pool is capped at $32,000 — not $85,000. The parents are not responsible for the gap. The child is.
Apply the income split. Parent A earns $90,000 per year. Parent B earns $60,000. Combined income: $150,000. Parent A’s share: 60%. Parent B’s share: 40%.
Assume the student receives a $10,000 grant. Net amount for parental allocation: $22,000.
Parent A’s maximum obligation: 60% × $22,000 = $13,200 per year. Parent B’s maximum obligation: 40% × $22,000 = $8,800 per year.
Everything above the cap — the $53,000 gap between the UIUC rate and Northwestern’s actual cost — belongs to the child through loans, scholarships, or work. The court doesn’t order parents to fund attendance at a private school beyond what the statute allows.
These figures are illustrative only. Actual outcomes depend on financial aid, deviation arguments, and judicial discretion in each case. (Source: 750 ILCS 5/513(d) and (j))
Washington distributes costs differently. Courts allocate responsibility between the parents and the child based on each party’s income and resources, applying the factors in RCW 26.19.090. The proportional split reflects what each party can reasonably contribute — there is no fixed percentage written into the statute itself.
What Happens If a Parent Refuses to Pay Court-Ordered College Expenses?
Where college expenses are incorporated into a court order in states like New Jersey and Illinois, refusing to pay carries the same consequences as refusing to pay regular child support.
Civil contempt is the primary enforcement tool. A parent who ignores a college support order can be brought back to court, held in contempt, and face fines, a purge requirement, and attorney fee awards.
Here is where the Bradley Amendment (42 U.S.C. §666(a)(9)(C)) applies. When college expenses are structured as a form of child support in the court order, missed payments become legal judgments automatically — the moment the due date passes, without a hearing. Courts cannot retroactively reduce what has already accrued. A judge can change the amount going forward. They cannot touch the past. That is federal law, and it applies in every state without exception.
Miss a payment after the order is entered?
That debt doesn’t disappear. The Bradley Amendment makes it federal law: courts can’t go back and erase what you already owe. They can change what you owe going forward. They can’t touch the past.
If parents agreed to college costs in a divorce decree but the agreement is treated as a contract rather than a support order, the enforcement path runs through breach of contract. A judge can enter a money judgment for unpaid amounts, but the automatic Income Withholding Order and license suspension tools that apply to regular child support enforcement may not apply in the same way. The structure of the original order matters.
One thing is consistent across every state: a parent who agreed to pay for college and then refuses doesn’t get to quietly walk away. The obligation lives in a document, and documents get enforced.
FAQ
Does child support automatically continue through college in all states?
No. In most U.S. states — including Texas and Florida — child support ends at age 18 or high school graduation. Even in states like New Jersey and Illinois where college support is available, it is never automatic. The custodial parent must file a petition before specific deadlines — in New Jersey, before the child turns 19 under N.J.S.A. 2A:17-56.67.
Can a court force a parent to pay for college after divorce?
Only if the state’s law permits it. Courts in New Jersey, Illinois, Washington, and Indiana have statutory or case-law authority to order college contributions. Courts in Texas, Florida, and most other states do not. In no-authority states, an enforceable college obligation requires specific language in a signed divorce decree — the court enforces the contract, not a child support statute.
What GPA does a child need to keep receiving college support in Illinois?
Under 750 ILCS 5/513(g), the child must maintain a cumulative “C” grade point average. If GPA drops below that threshold — absent documented illness or other good cause — the court’s authority to order continued payments terminates. This requirement is written into the statute and cannot be waived by agreement between the parents.
Does getting into a more expensive school increase what parents must pay in Illinois?
No. The parental obligation for tuition and fees is capped at the in-state University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign rate for the same academic year, regardless of where the child enrolls. Attending a private school that costs three times as much does not increase the parents’ maximum obligation under 750 ILCS 5/513(d). In New Jersey, there is no statutory cap — courts have more flexibility to consider the reasonableness of the chosen school relative to parental income.
Can a parent refuse to fill out the FAFSA when ordered to by a court?
In Illinois, no. Under 750 ILCS 5/513(b), courts can order both parents and the child to complete the FAFSA by the filing deadline. A parent who refuses faces contempt proceedings. Financial aid obtained reduces the parents’ obligation — courts require the family to pursue aid first precisely because it lowers the parental allocation.
Does college support stop if the child takes a gap year?
It depends on the state and the structure of the order. In Illinois, the court’s authority under §513 applies to periods of actual enrollment. In Washington, post-secondary support under RCW 26.19.090 is tied to enrollment in a qualifying program, with a hard age ceiling of 23. A gap year that interrupts enrollment may pause the obligation — returning to full-time enrollment may require a new petition depending on how the original order was written.
Can a parent agree to pay for college in a divorce decree and then back out?
If the decree contains a specific, unambiguous promise — a defined amount, a percentage, or a clear obligation — then refusing to pay is breach of contract, and the court can enter judgment for the amount owed. If the decree merely references a state statute as a placeholder for future determination, there is no immediately enforceable promise — a separate petition is still required. A verbal promise made outside a signed court document has no legal force anywhere.
