Post-Secondary: parents paying for 2nd degree?

[arabian]

Here is an interesting case from Alberta from a senior judge.

There have been many posts on the forum this past year on this topic.

https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/abqb/doc/2017/2017abqb421/2017abqb421.html

Judge says that child should be grateful for support child has already received from her parents over past 5.5 years.

 

[rockscan]

My favourite part:

Adult children are not without their own responsibilities in educating themselves. Farden sets out pertinent factors, including the effort and achievement of the child, and consideration of how the child is financially contributing to the cost of his or her education. There is no entitlement to a full ride, let alone a free ride.


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[Rioe]

I like how he acknowledges that children of an intact family have no guarantee of any post-secondary financial support like children of a separated family do.

[25] Child support for adult children pursuing post-secondary education is generally a challenging task. Requiring a parent to pay for post-secondary education is an interesting power of the courts, available mainly when parents have separated. When parents remain together, they are able to turn their children loose on the world when their children have completed high school, or otherwise left their parents’ control. Children in Alberta do have the ability to pursue claims against their parents themselves for post-secondary education costs, but those claims are rare.

 

[rockscan]

One of my siblings kids wanted to go away. She was told they would pay her tuition and books if she stayed at home. She said no so she is paying everything but living expenses as my siblings said thats all they would pay. We had to pay all our costs (single parent) and we have all instilled in our kids the value of hard work and earning things. Its sad that some divorced people feel that teaching kids that they dont have to be responsible is a great thing. Good on this kid for working hard and getting two degrees but bad on the parent for thinking they shouldnt have to be responsible.

For what its worth, as a child of divorce I left school with$50,000 in loans as I paid school and household expenses. My additional degrees were all at my expense too.


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[mcdreamy]

Not surprising, given the relatively combined low-income.

[33] That being said, if parents are able to afford to educate their children without impacting their abilities to lead their own lives and raise their other children, such parents are more likely to be held responsible to continue to contribute until their children are able to go their own ways.

It appears in the recitals that the payor does not have a relationship with this particular child, and has gone on to his next relationship and managed to have 4 more kids. With any luck, he has a more solid relationship with this next group.

Costs of tuition/post-secondary have tripled in the last 15 years. Grants are practically non-existent. In the year 2017, in a two-professional household, it should not be unexpected to contribute to a portion of a masters/graduate degree for the children.