Do parents legally need to help pay for college?

studying_torah

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 12:28 pm

I live in NJ in case it makes a difference.
Recently been reading articles that talk about a parent being legally obligated to pay for a child's college education (I think it's in order to receive certain financial aid, but I'm not sure.)
Is this actually the case?
I mean we struggle to pay for our kids school tuition, there is no way we can pay for college.
My mother went to college (years ago) but she & my father worked and took out loans.
Has the law changed?

cuties' mom

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 12:35 pm

I never heard of that, but I remember from when I was in college, the application for financial aid asked about my parents' income. (My parents did not pay for me to go to college.) The law may be different in NJ because there have been cases where children sued their parents for college tuition and the court ruled that the parents have to pay it. In New York, college is considered a luxury and parents are not required to pay for college.

ra_mom

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 12:40 pm

studying_torah wrote:

Parents are never obligated to pay for an adult child's college tuition. (College is not an obligation and therefore not free like public school is.)
But in order for a college student to obtain financial aid, eligibility is required, and if the child is a dependant of his/her parents (living at home, listed as a dependant on parents' tax return), then it's the parents financial eligibility that is looked into.

Last edited by ra_mom on Fri, Nov 30 2018, 12:42 pm; edited 1 time in total

cnc

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 12:41 pm

ra_mom wrote:

Parents are never obligated to pay for am adult child's college tuition.
But in order for a college student to obtain financial aid, eligibility is required, and if the child is a dependant of his/her parents (living at home, listed as a dependant on parents' tax return), then it's the parents financial eligibility that is looked into.

this

amother

Babyblue

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 12:54 pm

studying_torah wrote:

In Germany it's the law. Parents need to pay for the education until the kid is 27. If the kid already has kids.. they also need to support the grandkids. You can go to court if they dont. So they pay bachelor's and master's degree .. I know people (nonjewish) who went to court because the parents didn't want to pay. They're legally required to so as long as it's the kids first degree they won't get around it.
But tuition is around 700 euros a year plus living expenses so it's definitely not as much as in US. Still a lot.. but it depends on the income. If the parents have less than 1300 euros a month, they don't pay.

But it's not only college, if the "kid" is under 25 and doesn't want to work , the parents have to pay for rent and living expenses. The government only gives welfare for those over 25.

causemommysaid

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 1:13 pm

amother wrote:

That's absurd.

I hope saying you can keep a bedroom in the house is an option and if they don't take it then too bad.

Also, being forced to support grandchildren? how does that make any sense. You never even signed up for that responsibility.

ra_mom

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 1:34 pm

amother wrote:

While I don't know anything about the law in Germany you mentioned, there seems to be financial aid options available there too. Someone I know was able to obtain free college courses toward degree through Manchester seminary, offered to those who are citizens in Europe (Germany included).

amother

Puce

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 2:22 pm

studying_torah wrote:

I know from personal experience that you are required to give your parents income and savings even of your not living at home with them anymore. It's really annoying cuz then we weren't able to get financial aid even though we hardly had money but our parents do.

ra_mom

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 2:32 pm

studying_torah wrote:

So for financial aid the parents income is looked into and then what happens? Can the child be denied aid- which means parents need to pay anyhow?
And Germany, wow

Yes the child can be denied if it's determined that the family income bracket is too high.
If the adult child still wants to go to college without financial aid, the child will have to figure out how to pay for it.

amother

Azure

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 2:33 pm

amother wrote:

What if the child is estranged from parents and barely scraping it on their own to pay for food and board?

amother

Azure

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 2:34 pm

amother wrote:

What if the student is estranged from parents and barely scraping it on their own to pay for food and board and doesn't have access to parents financials?

amother

Puce

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 2:44 pm

amother wrote:

What if the student is estranged from parents and barely scraping it on their own to pay for food and board and doesn't have access to parents financials?

It's to bad then they have to take out student loans. However the older the person gets the less they look into the parents income. Like by 27 they will start to look less and so on...

amother

Babyblue

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 2:48 pm

ra_mom wrote:

Yes I also got some student loans because we were 3 kids in college and my dad couldn't pay it all.
But I had a friend whose father was supporting her for 7 years (she studied medicine).. she had 4 kids and he was quite upset that he had to pay for all of them. While I do understand that it's a good idea for parents to pay for a degree I don't think it should be an obligation.

OOTforlife

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 3:13 pm

studying_torah wrote:

Those were probably divorce cases. I believe some states it can be required as a type of child support. I have never heard of married parents being compelled to pay for college.

Amarante

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 3:35 pm

Two issues

If parents are divorced, a parent can be required to pay for college and graduate school if that would be typical expectation for someone with their income. There have been a few cases in which the child was successful in suing the parent but these are very rare because you need to have a parent with substantial income or assets who doesn’t want to support their child and most families aren’t that dysfunctional.

A parent’s income will be used to determine financial aid package but it’s based on facts. A child graduating from high school would typically be expected to have parental financial support. There isn’t a specific cutoff age but if a child really is independent financially for a few years and parents do not claim as a dependent, then it would be possible to prove the child is his or her own economic unit. Again it’s not typical as most families that aren’t dysfunctional want to support children to the extent possible and so it would be a family decision based on what the family can reasonably provide for the child. Middle class people now typically opt for state schools because of cost but with the cost of private schools being $40,000 or so a year, not many can afford that kind of cost. Some of the best universities are now free for even upper middle class people because they have huge endowments and recognize that even an income of $100,000 is not enough to fund four years of private college.

nylon

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 3:38 pm

Yes. In a divorce agreement a parent can be required to pay for college. As a general principle, no.

However, if the child is legally considered a dependent (not just IRS definition, but basically, under 25, not married, no kids, not military) the parents' income is considered for financial aid and an expected family contribution is calculated. If you refuse to pay it, the child isn't eligible for money to make that up, and non-federal student loans often require parents as co signers. The EFC is after loans, but may include the student working during the summer (it can be structured different ways: when I was in college, I got work study, which was counted towards my aid itself, so my parents' contribution did not include me working during the school year).

So while parents can't be legally compelled to pay towards college tuition, it can be difficult or impossible for a student to go if they don't help. Since tuition has risen substantially in recent years, so working to pay tuition is much more difficult than it used to be, even for public colleges.

amother

Mauve

Fri, Nov 30 2018, 4:09 pm

amother wrote:

I never understood this. Why use parents income; not every parent wants to pay for their kids tuition.