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  • Post Secondary Education Costs

    Has there ever been any court cases or any substantial discussion politically or legally regarding the fact that divorced parents are required to pay for post-secondary education but married parents are not obligated? It seems like a massive form of discrimination to me. I was googling it but I didn't really see anything other than random commentary on it.

  • #2
    Waste of energy. Divorced parents are obligated to cover a portion. Kids are still responsible for a portion too. Lots of interpretation. If you do a search on this forum itself you'll find a great deal of discussion on it.

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    • #3
      Oh I wasn't going to fight it - I have enough battles. I was just wondering if or why this hasn't been brought up as a huge discrimination issue.

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      • #4
        Its not seen as a discrimination issue because it all plays into the idea that children of divorce shouldnt suffer because of their parents' decisions. Meanwhile kid in intact families do pay a large portion of their school expenses or kids of divorce dont have parents in a financial position to cover it or there is the legal battle.

        I can tell you that as a child of divorce myself, I paid my entire way through school. My parents were high school drop outs. My niece is planning to attend medical school and has two years before graduating HS. Her parents (my sibling who put herself through school) are happily married and told her she needs to come to the table with a healthy contribution. At 16 she has been working three jobs through holidays/summer vaca and two jobs through the school year all while getting scholarship/award level grades to help contribute. Meanwhile you hear many a horror story where an ex has dictated that kid doesnt have to pay squat. My partner is in the midst of this with his ex who feels kid should pay very little.

        Post secondary education is expensive and its no guarantee of employment for those coming out with degrees in many of the more generalized areas. I pity many a divorced family as this aspect is open to interpretation and in most cases comes down to parents degrees, income level and what is or isnt reasonable. A review of canlii shows a wide spectrum of interpretations of the law.

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        • #5
          CanLII - 2005 MBQB 128 (CanLII)

          I think you have to understand, that in family law - there is only one principle that matters. Do not let mom and kids get poor after divorce.... its the cardinal principle that trumps all else.

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          • #6
            Another thing about my partners case that amazes me is that if kid claimed his income on the OSAP application, the grants awarded estimate out at about $7000. Using moms income (which three times that of dad), the grants fall to $2000. Grants make up the childs portion of the expense of which last year the total amount child was responsible for totaled approximately $6000. In Ontario, kids from single parent and/or low income families end up with a higher potential for "forgivable" government support. Which means that when your kids attend school, they should use the lower income amounts on any OSAP applications if they attend school in Ontario. Grant amount (which is clearly denoted on the OSAP statement) are the kids portion of the expense.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Links17 View Post
              CanLII - 2005 MBQB 128 (CanLII)

              I think you have to understand, that in family law - there is only one principle that matters. Do not let mom and kids get poor after divorce.... its the cardinal principle that trumps all else.
              Links - I am the mom and I got screwed I get no child support and I certainly won't be getting any help with university costs.

              Rockscan - our situation is similar. Mom thinks that the boys should not work and that all attention should be focused on school. She also believes OSAP is equivalent to welfare and that the boys should not apply for it. The youngest wants to be a vet and she plans to move to the city he goes to school and in her words she expects that we will pay full table support plus our pro-rata share of all of his tuition, books, etc. In addition to the 20 year old who is in college, we have her 14 year old and my 12 and 11 year olds who will hopefully all go to post-secondary. Better get second, third and fourth jobs!!!!

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