College and Post-Secondary Education Support

A quick heads-up before we begin: everything here is for general informational purposes only — it is not legal advice. For advice about your specific situation, talk to a Colorado family law attorney.

Your Situation

If you're thinking about who pays for your child's college or career/technical schooling after a divorce, you've hit one of the trickier corners of Colorado family law. Here's the key thing to understand up front: in Colorado, ordinary child support generally ends when your youngest or only child turns 19. College does not automatically extend that obligation. For any support order entered on or after July 1, 1997, a court cannot order a parent to pay post-secondary education expenses unless the parents have agreed to it in writing. That makes this issue different from most other money questions in a divorce — the power is largely in your hands and the other parent's hands, not the judge's.

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If you want college costs addressed, the realistic path is almost always to negotiate a written agreement and have the court fold it into your decree — the court cannot impose this on an unwilling parent after July 1, 1997.

This guide will help you understand what counts as post-secondary support, how far an agreement can go, how contributions are typically divided, and what you can do today to protect your child's — and your own — financial future.

What the Law Requires

"Post-secondary education" in Colorado covers college, university, and career or technical education programs. "Post-secondary education support" specifically means tuition, books, and fees — not every expense you might imagine.

The central rule for modern orders: for support entered on or after July 1, 1997, a court cannot order post-secondary education expenses without the parents' written agreement. Parents are, however, free to agree in writing — in a stipulation, a parenting plan, or a separation agreement — to continue support past age 19 or to provide for college expenses, and to spell out how payment works. Once the court approves that agreement and makes it part of the decree, it is enforced as a court order, not as a private contract. That shift matters: it changes the enforcement tools available, and a support-type college obligation in a decree can even survive bankruptcy as non-dischargeable support.

A few other legal boundaries are worth knowing:

• No double-ordering. A court cannot order regular child support and post-secondary education support covering the same period for the same child at the same time.
• Timing and endpoint. A motion for a post-secondary support order (under the older framework that allowed it) must be filed before the child turns 21, and any such order cannot extend past the earlier of the child's 21st birthday or completion of an undergraduate degree.
• No trust. A court cannot order a parent to create or fund an educational trust for a child.
• Agreements don't bind the court forever. Even when parents agree, the terms do not strip the court of its power to modify later if there's a substantial and continuing change in circumstances.
• Older orders are different. A pre-July 1, 1997 child support order that said nothing about college cannot be modified under this statute to add college expenses. Orders entered between July 1, 1991 and July 1, 1997 that did include post-secondary provisions can be modified to apply current rules and limits.

When a court does have authority to order a contribution (under the older framework), both parents' contributions are capped by the basic child support schedule amount, calculated as if the child in school were the only child, and parents pay in proportion to their adjusted gross incomes.

What Courts Typically Do

In practice, because a court can't impose college costs without agreement for modern orders, most of the action here is in negotiated agreements. When a court does evaluate a contribution under the circumstances that allow it, judges weigh the statutory factors and both parents' resources, and look at detailed evidence of the child's living and educational expenses. Courts have made clear there's no absolute duty on a divorced parent to pay for college — contribution is measured against a parent's ability to pay.

Some patterns worth knowing:

• Courts have the discretion to order "either or both" parents to contribute. One parent can be ordered to cover all college costs; the costs don't have to be split item by item.
• Judges can route payment in different ways — directly to the school, to the child, or through another arrangement.
• Courts have declined to require children to drain their own assets before parents contribute, and a child's earnings won't automatically reduce support if the child shows those earnings went toward additional college expenses.
• When setting up new support, a court can consider a child's need and capacity for higher education as a factor — including a parent's wish to save for college — without that crossing into an improper order to pay college expenses.
• To modify an existing post-secondary support order, the party asking for the change must show a substantial and continuing change in circumstances. A change in the statute itself doesn't automatically open the door.

Be honest with yourself about the range here: outcomes depend heavily on what you negotiate, each parent's finances, and the specific facts.

Step by Step: What to Do

1. Figure out which framework applies. If your support order was entered on or after July 1, 1997 (most are), the court cannot order college costs without agreement — your path is negotiation. If your situation involves an older order, check whether it already addressed post-secondary expenses, because that changes what can be modified.

2. Define what you want covered. Decide whether you're talking about tuition, books, and fees (the statutory definition of support) or a broader package your agreement spells out — room and board, travel, and other costs can be negotiated into a separation agreement even though they go beyond the bare statutory terms.

3. Agree on a cost cap. Before signing anything, decide whether to put a ceiling on tuition. Without a cap, you could be held to a percentage of any tuition amount. Colorado courts often reference the University of Colorado in-state tuition rate as a benchmark, so consider anchoring any cap to a clear standard like that.

4. Agree on each parent's share and how money flows. Spell out the percentage each parent pays and whether payment goes to the school, the child, or elsewhere. Be specific — vague "contribute whatever is necessary" language has been read as creating a binding obligation, which may not be what you intend.

5. Put it in writing and get it into the decree. Your agreement becomes enforceable as a court order once the court approves it and incorporates it into your decree — whether through your parenting plan or separation agreement. The guided wizard on this site will prepare and pre-fill the paperwork that documents your agreement and submits it to the court, so you don't have to hunt down and fill in blank forms yourself.

6. If you already have an order and need to change it, gather proof of a substantial and continuing change in circumstances before filing. The wizard can prepare the modification paperwork for you.

What Research Shows Can Help

The materials available here focus mainly on Colorado law and court practice rather than social science findings on college support, so there isn't specific research to report on this narrow topic. What the legal framework consistently rewards, though, is specificity and planning ahead: agreements that clearly describe each covered expense, state each parent's percentage, and set a tuition cap are far easier to enforce and far less likely to spark a future fight than vague promises. Treat clarity now as the best protection for both you and your child later.

What to Do Today

• Pull together your current support order and your decree, and check whether either already mentions post-secondary or college expenses.
• Write down exactly which costs you're willing to cover — tuition, books, fees, room and board, travel — and the maximum you can realistically afford.
• Pick a tuition benchmark to propose (many Colorado parents anchor to the University of Colorado in-state rate) so your cap is concrete.
• Start the guided wizard to begin preparing the agreement or modification paperwork that puts your terms in front of the court.
• If the other parent is open to talking, raise the subject while you still have time before your child nears 21 — the window for addressing this through the court narrows as the child gets older.

Related Issues to Be Aware Of

• Child support is the baseline obligation here, calculated from both parents' combined adjusted gross income. Remember that a court can't run regular child support and post-secondary support for the same child and same period at the same time — so understanding how your base support works is the starting point for any college conversation.

• Emancipation and termination of support is why this issue exists: support generally ends automatically at 19, and college doesn't extend it on its own. The main way to keep support going past 19 is a written stipulation — the same kind of written agreement that drives post-secondary support.

• How to modify a court order matters because an agreement on college costs doesn't lock the court out — either parent can seek modification by showing a substantial and continuing change in circumstances, and a private agreement to change support isn't effective until the court authorizes it.

• Special needs children follow different rules: for a child who is mentally or physically disabled, a court can order support — including medical expenses or insurance — to continue past 19, which is a separate track from the voluntary-agreement rule that governs college costs.