CSS Profile and Divorced Parents with Unequal Assets

blossom
Wed, 02 Dec 2020 18:01:46 +0000

Unfortunately, there is no way to distribute “free money” in a way that’s going to be absolutely fair to every single family and every single situation. For the most part, a divorced and remarried parent has a better lifestyle (even if the assets don’t get co-mingled) than that same divorced parent who has not remarried. Even if it’s just having two incomes available to pay for a nicer apartment, heat, electricity- that’s a higher standard of living than it would be with just the income of the divorced person living alone with no shared expenses at all. Colleges aren’t expecting the new spouse to dig into his or her pocket to pay for college- but the financial aid formulas reflect the presence of another wage-earning adult who contributes to living expenses and therefore- means that there is money from the bio-parent to pay for college.

Agree that there are people who find ways to cheat which is terrible but that goes for everything in life. W2 wage earners don’t have the illegal options that someone who owns a restaurant or another cash type business can have (not that there aren’t tens of thousands of honest restaurant owners who pay taxes on every single cent), and someone with a home office has many more potential “deductions” than someone who works in a factory or a school.

At the end of the day though- nobody takes on educational debt without that being a conscious choice-- and so the answer to not becoming mired in debt is simple- don’t borrow. You cannot borrow for college “accidentally”- so just don’t do it, and figure out another way. I’ve had people who work for me who take once class per semester (my company has generous tuition benefits) and believe me- we throw a big party when they finish. It’s not easy juggling a full time job and college, and I know many of them have wondered if it’s worth it. But to graduate with a Bachelors’s degree, no debt-- not for everyone, but something worth pursuing.