What it is: post-secondary educational expenses (tuition, room, books) for a non-minor (emancipated) child. Because the child is no longer a minor, college expenses are not the same as child support and are not calculated the same way.
What this means for parents: in Illinois, college expenses are often addressed separately in a marital settlement agreement — parents agreeing to share tuition and related costs is fairly common. If this matters in your family, it must be in the agreement; the court will enforce what was agreed.
How Illinois handles it: the court can allocate college costs between parents based on their incomes, the child’s resources (scholarships, loans, the child’s own savings), and the standard of living the child would have enjoyed. The child’s own contribution is expected.
Watch out for: the obligation usually has a cap (often to the cost of in-state tuition at a public university) and an end point (commonly age 23, sometimes extended for disability). Spell out the cap and the schools covered so a “dream school” out of state doesn’t become a surprise bill.
