What States Require Child Support Through College?

About a dozen states can require a parent to keep paying child support while a child is in college, and the states that require child support through college each set their own age caps, enrollment rules, and limits on what expenses count. Everywhere else, the support obligation ends at 18 or high school graduation unless the parents sign a voluntary agreement to share college costs.

States With Statutes That Allow College Support

These states have written the authority into their family code. The age cap and the cost cap are what usually decide how useful the statute is in a given family.

Connecticut. A court can order educational support for up to four full academic years or until the child turns 23, whichever comes first. The judge must find it more likely than not that the parents would have paid for college if the family had stayed together. Costs are capped at in-state tuition at the University of Connecticut unless the parents agree to more.¹
Hawaii. Support can continue for an unmarried adult child enrolled full-time at an accredited college, university, or vocational school. The endpoint is generally at or before age 23, decided case by case.²
Illinois. A court can order either or both parents to contribute to college expenses incurred before the child turns 23, or 25 in exceptional cases. Tuition and fees are capped at the in-state rate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and housing is capped at the cost of a double-occupancy dorm with a standard meal plan at the same school.³
Indiana. A court can include college expenses in a support or educational support order after weighing the child’s aptitude, the child’s ability to contribute through work or financial aid, and each parent’s ability to pay. Indiana sets no specific statutory age cap for educational support.⁴
Massachusetts. A court can order support for children 18 to 21 who live with a parent and are financially dependent. Support can continue from 21 to 23 if the child is in an undergraduate program and still dependent. Graduate school is excluded.⁵
Missouri. Support runs until age 21 if the child enrolls at a college or vocational school by October 1 after high school graduation and carries at least 12 credit hours per semester (summer excluded). The child must send each parent a transcript at the start of every semester, and failing grades in half or more of a semester’s courses can end the obligation.⁶
New York. Parents must support an unemancipated child until 21, whether or not the child goes to college. Support ends if the child marries, becomes self-supporting, or enters the military.⁷
Oregon. Support can continue for an unmarried child between 18 and 21 who is making satisfactory academic progress and carrying at least half a full-time course load. The child has to give each paying parent written notice of enrollment before turning 18 and must authorize the school to release grades and enrollment status.⁸
Washington. A court can order post-secondary support after weighing the child’s age, needs, aptitudes, and any disabilities, the parents’ education level and standard of living, and the type of education sought. Support cannot run past the child’s 23rd birthday except in exceptional circumstances such as a disability.⁹

States Where Courts Created the Rule

Two states reached the same place through case law rather than statute.

In New Jersey, the state supreme court held in Newburgh v. Arrigo (1982) that the duty of parenthood can include contributing to a child’s higher education. Courts weigh twelve factors, among them whether the parent would have paid for college if the family had stayed together, each parent’s finances, the availability of financial aid, and the child’s relationship with the paying parent. A child who has cut off contact with a parent faces real difficulty asking that parent to fund college.¹⁰ A later statute sets 23 as the age at which all New Jersey child support terminates.

South Carolina’s supreme court reaffirmed the family court’s authority to order college contributions in McLeod v. Starnes (2012), reading the family court’s broad child support jurisdiction to include college expenses.¹¹

Two States That No Longer Qualify

Iowa and Colorado still turn up on older lists of college support states. Neither belongs there now.

Iowa’s code expressly prohibits courts from ordering a post-secondary education subsidy in either a temporary order or a final judgment. Parents who want to share college costs in Iowa must do it through a voluntary agreement.¹²

Colorado’s post-secondary education support provision applies only to child support orders entered before July 1, 1997. For any order entered after that date, a court cannot order college support, though it will enforce a written agreement incorporated into the divorce decree.¹³

Conditions the Child Usually Has to Meet

Even in a state that allows college support, the order is not automatic. A judge will look for most of the following.

Enrollment at an accredited school. Most states require full-time attendance. Oregon is the main exception, allowing support at half the school’s full-time course load.⁸
Age within the cap. New York, Oregon, and Missouri cut off at 21. Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Washington cut off at 23. Illinois can extend to 25 for good cause.³
Good academic standing. Missouri requires passing grades in more than half of a semester’s courses. Oregon defers to the school’s own definition of satisfactory progress.⁶⁸
Unmarried and dependent. Marriage, military service, or becoming self-supporting typically ends the obligation.
Reasonable self-help. Courts in most states expect the child to apply for scholarships, grants, and loans, and to work when it’s reasonable. Indiana’s statute lists work, loans, and financial aid as factors.⁴

These statutes are aimed at undergraduate work. Massachusetts expressly excludes graduate costs, Hawaii limits support to undergraduate or combined degree programs, and the 21 or 23 age caps elsewhere make a court-ordered contribution to law or medical school effectively impossible. Parents who want to share graduate costs have to agree to it.⁵²

What a College Support Order Actually Pays For

Tuition is the obvious piece, but the range is broader. Illinois spells it out in the most detail: tuition and fees capped at the in-state University of Illinois rate, housing capped at the cost of a double-occupancy dorm with a standard meal plan, medical and dental insurance, reasonable living expenses during the school year and breaks, and books and supplies.³ The practical consequence of that cap matters: a child who chooses a $60,000-a-year private school can only have the parents ordered to pay the equivalent of in-state public tuition, absent agreement.

Connecticut uses the same approach, benchmarking expenses to in-state tuition at the University of Connecticut.¹ States without statutory caps leave the figure to the judge’s discretion, measured against what the parents can reasonably afford. Off-campus housing is commonly covered, but courts tend to benchmark it against the school’s own on-campus room and board.

What a Judge Weighs Before Ordering It

The first and heaviest factor is each parent’s ability to pay. Income, assets, debts, and obligations to other dependents all come in. A modest earner supporting younger children faces a very different analysis than a high earner with no other dependents.¹⁴

Many states also look at the standard of living the child would have had if the parents had stayed together. Washington’s statute puts it plainly: judges must consider “the amount and type of support that the child would have been afforded if the parents had stayed together.”⁹ Connecticut asks the same question in different words.¹

The child’s own resources count too. Scholarships, grants, savings, and part-time earnings reduce what the court will order a parent to pay. New Jersey also weighs the child’s relationship with the paying parent, including “mutual affection and shared goals as well as responsiveness to parental advice and guidance.”¹⁰

When an Order Can Be Changed or Ended

A college support order is not fixed. Hitting the state’s age cap ends it. So does the child marrying, entering the military, or becoming self-supporting. Dropping below the required enrollment level usually ends it as well. Hawaii, for one, enforces ongoing support only when the adult child has been continuously enrolled full-time since high school.²

Beyond those automatic triggers, either parent can petition for modification when circumstances change significantly. Job loss, disability, or new dependents can cut the obligation; a large scholarship or inheritance on the child’s side can do the same.

Missouri and Oregon both put transparency obligations on the child. In Missouri, failing to send grade transcripts to the noncustodial parent within 30 days of receiving them is grounds for terminating support, and no arrearage builds during the gap.⁶ Oregon requires the child to authorize the school to disclose enrollment and grade information to each paying parent.⁸

If Your State Doesn’t Allow Court-Ordered College Support

In the roughly 40 states without a statute or case law on point, parents can still create a binding obligation themselves. A college-expense provision written into a marital settlement or separation agreement becomes enforceable once the court incorporates it into the divorce decree. If a parent later refuses to pay, the other parent can return to court to enforce the agreement. Iowa and Colorado parents now fall into this category.¹³

Specifics matter. A workable provision names what counts as a covered expense, how costs are split, the enrollment and grade requirements the child has to meet, and the age at which the obligation ends. Vague language produces disputes that cost more in legal fees than the tuition itself. Agreements that account for the child’s own contribution through financial aid and part-time work also tend to hold up better when a judge is asked to enforce them.

1
Connecticut Judicial Branch. Educational Support Orders
2
Hawaii State Judiciary. Hawaii Child Support Guidelines
3
Justia Law. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5 Part V – Property, Support and Attorney Fees
4
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-16-6-2 – Expenses for Child’s Education and Health Care
5
Mass.gov. Massachusetts General Laws c.208 Section 28
6
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Revised Statutes of Missouri Section 452.340
7
New York State Unified Court System. New York City Family Court – Child and Spousal Support FAQs
8
Oregon Public Law. ORS 107.108 – Support or Maintenance for Child Attending School
9
Washington State Legislature. RCW 26.19.090 – Standards for Postsecondary Educational Support
10
Justia Law. Newburgh v. Arrigo
11
Justia Law. McLeod v. Starnes
12
Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code 2026 Section 598.21F
13
Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes Section 14-10-115 – Child Support Guidelines
14
Connecticut General Assembly. Post-Majority Child Support Laws