I think this needs to be looked at on a case by case basis.

I have an older friend who put her husband through college & grad school, and worked until he became CEO of a Fortune 500 company, while raising their sons. In that age-old midlife crisis, husband took up with his secretary, and divorced my friend. She got a nice settlement, but everything she put into his getting where he got was ignored.

The sons turned 18, and the now ex-husband went to court to weasel out of paying ANYTHING towards their tuition! Both of these young men are wonderfully polite, athletic, and successful attorneys now - who want absolutely nothing to do with "that man who was married to Mom".

Obviously, this man could afford to put both sons through school, and law school - let alone GLO dues. Their mother helped them, and they worked. But the animosity is terrific!

As for me, my parents both had their own businesses. I worked for them, I worked in many other jobs (frankly, I think anyone who ever wants to eat in a restaurant should have to work in one!). I earned my scholarships, because my parents were in that middle-class/upper middle-class Catch 22 where they made too much money for a scholarship based on need, but not enough to make paying for tuition a drop in the bucket. Yet, they were very much in favor of me joining a sorority, so... We struck a bargain. I earned my scholarships, they paid the rest of my tuiton/board, and I paid my sorority dues in one lump sum at the beginning of the term. I was able to ask them to help me when I needed help, but I also knew how hard they worked, so only asked when I really needed it. While I never had a fine in sorority, I can guarantee that they would NEVER had paid for something like that!

Each family has to do what they think works for them. Oh, when a child loses his/her parent to death prior to their turning 21 or graduating from college, SSI kicks in for their tuition and upkeep. If my taxes have to pay for someone to go to college, darn straight that a well-off non-custodial parent should!!

I think that Social Security for dependents of deceased workers ends at 18 or high school graduation unless they changed it in the last few years. It used to go until 21, but that changed the early or mid 1980s.

I know plenty of people who had fathers and mothers like you described. In fact I have friends whose father paid nothing even before they turned 18. No alimony and no child support. He was a dead beat dad with three houses. :rolleyes:

there are parents out there that are together that cant afford their kids college, why should divorced parents be forced to pay if they cant afford it either? i can see having to help pay tuition and room and board, but not GLO dues. its a choice to join one, and parents should not be forced to pay through child support.

that's not who it's about. It's about the parents who have the money (and then some) but are being a-holes about it. I doubt any court is going to force a father who's been good about making his payments and is living on a minimum wage salary to pay for sorority dues.