University/College Costs - Child Support

Questions relating to this issue are quite common, and the answers are not always as straightforward as parents might expect. Here are the BASICS:

1. University/college costs are what are called “section 7 expenses” - they are a form of child support under the Child Support Guidelines (both federal and provincial - see section 7 of those);

2. If, while attending university/college (being enrolled in a reasonable program), a young person over 16 cannot become financially independent, that young person can expect, based on the law, to receive ongoing financial assistance from his or her parents, ie: child support. The slightly grey area here is the following: Does it have to be full-time attendance? Do they have to get certain grades? What if they are in a co-op program? All those questions are answered by the Court on a case-by-case basis, but the general trend is that Courts will err on the side of trying to give young people opportunities to better their education and skills, to get as good a head start in the job market as possible. In other words, the Courts’ definition of “school” has expanded over the years.

3. Let’s assume, in a hypothetical, that Mary is attending George Brown College on a full-time basis. She is 19 and living with Dad. Mom’s income is 50K and Dad’s income is 50K. Here, Mom and Dad will share Mary’s college expenses on a 50/50 basis because their incomes are the same. The rule is that the parents share this type of expense proportionately to their incomes - so the proportions of contribution change if the incomes are not the same. The proportions also change if the parties’ incomes change (or there is a change in the income of one parent).

4. What about Mary? Does she have to contribute anything to her own costs? The answer, based on how Courts are currently approaching this issue, is “yes”. She should have a summer job, for example, and should contribute a reasonable portion of her summer earnings to her own school costs. Not all but at least some.

5. What about loans, OSAP, grants? How are they treated? Particularly where the parents’ incomes are not high, efforts should be made by the student to apply for this type of assistance and if it is received, it “comes off the top”, meaning that those are applied to the costs first and only then do we figure out what “leftover” amount the parents need to deal with and share. The same “off the top” treatment applies to Mary’s own contribution.

6. What about the table amount of child support while Mary is attending college? Does Mom still have to pay it to Dad based on her 50K income? The answer depends on the specific circumstances of the case. Questions to be asked here include the following: is Mary living with Dad the entire week? Is she living away from Dad’s residence for any periods of time? Where does she reside in the summer? There are others. The bottom line is that in some cases, the non-residential parent still has to pay the table amount of child support or a portion of it, to the residential parent. Again, that depends on the case.

   There are many other issues to be considered here….for example, what about RESPs? Who gets any tax deduction for the tuition? Who actually gets the money - Mary or the school? What are “school expenses” - is it just tuition? Answers to those questions are beyond the scope of this blog post. Consider obtaining legal advice on the specific facts of your case.