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DIVORCED PARENTS' FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF THEIR CHILDREN'S COLLEGE EXPENSES
Author(s) -
Fabricius William V.,
Braver Sanford L.,
Deneau Kindra
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
family court review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.171
H-Index - 4
eISSN - 1744-1617
pISSN - 1531-2445
DOI - 10.1111/j.174-1617.2003.tb00886.x
Subject(s) - child support , payment , psychology , state (computer science) , turnover , child custody , developmental psychology , demographic economics , social psychology , finance , business , political science , economics , criminology , law , management , algorithm , computer science
Reliable, quantitative, and current information is needed to inform the policy debate about whether parents, most commonly noncustodial parents, should be compelled to provide support for their children's higher education. We report data from a large study of the financial support college students reported receiving from their divorced mothers and fathers in a state where such payment is completely voluntary. Mothers' and fathers' financial resources did not differ greatly; when these were statistically controlled for, mothers and fathers contributed remarkably similar amounts of college support. Among other findings, fathers contributed more proportionately than mothers in families that had joint legal custody but less in sole maternal custody families. Our findings suggest policies that will likely encourage more voluntary support for higher education from divorced families.