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Paying for your child’s college education after a divorce

When you divorce your current partner, you are undoubtedly going to have to work through certain matters, including figuring out what you plan to do with your assets and debts. While your divorce is ongoing, you may, too, want to account for future variables. One potentially important variable involves how you plan to pay for your child’s higher education.

Some states have rules dictating that divorcing parents must discuss how they plan to navigate paying for college as part of their divorce proceedings, but Georgia is not among those states. However, it may serve your entire family well to discuss and determine what you plan to do as far as paying for college to prevent unnecessary discord down the line. In doing so, keep the following considerations in mind.

Divorce has financial aid implications

Maybe you and your ex already have a child in college, but you still need to make tuition payments for another few years. Conversely, maybe you have young children, or high school children, who may head to school within a matter of years. Either way, know that divorcing your spouse has financial aid implications. Typically, the income of whoever becomes the “custodial parent” determines how much, if any, financial aid your child may receive after divorce.

Not every child goes straight to college

When working through how you plan to finance your child’s higher education, you and your ex may want to figure out what you plan to do if certain circumstances arise. Maybe your child does not plan to head straight to college upon graduating. He or she, instead, plans to take a gap year, or maybe you and your ex stash money away to pay for college and then your child decides not to attend. The more you discuss and work through these potential variables beforehand, the better off you all may be.

Chances are, you are not going to want to interact with your ex more than you have to once you go your separate ways. Deciding how to pay for college while your divorce is ongoing may help you accomplish this.