College Expenses in a California Divorce Agreement: What the Law Allows

No, California law does not generally require parents to pay for college once a child is an adult. Parents can agree to share those costs, and Family Code section 3587 lets the court approve that agreement and make a support order from it. Mediation can help you work out the terms.

Most people facing this question are parents in the middle of a California divorce. They are already sorting out custody, support and property, and they are looking ahead to a child who may start college in a few years, or sooner. One or both of them wonders whether the divorce settles who pays for that, or whether it will become an open question the family has to face later. This article explains what the law allows, how a college expense agreement fits alongside child support, and how parents in San Diego County, and anywhere in California through online mediation, can work through it together.

What California Law Says About College Expenses After Divorce

Family Code section 3587 is the starting point. It reads: "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the court has the authority to approve a stipulated agreement by the parents to pay for the support of an adult child or for the continuation of child support after a child attains the age of 18 years and to make a support order to effectuate the agreement."

A stipulated agreement is an agreement the parents ask the court to approve; section 3587 does not itself define the form the agreement must take, though putting it in writing and signing it is standard practice. Section 3587 does not mention college by name. It speaks of supporting an adult child, and parents often use it to cover what college costs.

Child support itself has an end point. Under Family Code section 3901, the duty of support continues past 18 only for an unmarried child who is a full-time high school student and not self-supporting. It lasts until the child finishes 12th grade or turns 19, whichever comes first. A child with a medical condition, documented by a physician, that prevents full-time school attendance is excused from the full-time requirement. Section 3901 also says it does not limit a parent's ability to agree to provide more support.

Put together, the Family Code does not generally require divorcing parents in California to pay college costs for an adult child. Without an agreement, a court generally has no basis to order it, apart from the separate duty Family Code section 3910 imposes to support an adult child who is incapacitated from earning a living and without sufficient means. With an agreement, the court can approve it.

The Family Code does not list which costs count. Parents often include tuition, room and board, books, and school fees. That list is only an example. The parents decide what goes in, whether their case is in San Diego County or elsewhere in California.

How a College Expense Agreement Works in Practice

A college expense provision usually lives inside the marital settlement agreement, or MSA. The MSA is the written contract that resolves the divorce issues and is made part of the court's judgment. Once the court approves the college terms under section 3587 and makes a support order, those terms become part of a court order and not only a private promise between the parents. To see how the larger document comes together, the guide to a divorce mediation agreement walks through the steps.

The terms themselves are up to the parents. Provisions that often come up include:

• Which costs are covered. Tuition only, or also housing, meals, books, fees, travel or a computer.
• Each parent's share. An even split, a split tied to each parent's income, or another arrangement the parents choose.
• Conditions on the student. For example, full-time enrollment or a minimum grade point average.
• Paperwork and repayment. How bills are shared, how receipts are sent, and how soon a parent pays back the other.

Parents can also set a cap on costs, a time limit such as four academic years, or a cutoff age. None of these come from the statute. They are terms the parents agree on, which is why clear wording matters.

Getting these details down while a child is still young can feel like planning for a family you can't yet picture. Mediation gives both parents a place to talk through those questions together. The court does not impose terms; the parents shape them, and the court approves them.

The Relationship Between College Agreements and Child Support

California's guideline child support formula, set out in Family Code section 4055, works from each parent's net monthly disposable income and the share of time each parent has primary physical responsibility for the children. It covers a child while child support lasts. It does not, on its own, reach college costs.

Parents can agree on child support too, but not to any figure they like. Under Family Code section 4065(a), the parties may stipulate to a child support amount subject to the court's approval, unless federal law prohibits it. The court will not approve an amount below the guideline formula unless the parents declare all of the following:

1. They are fully informed of their rights concerning child support.
2. The order is being agreed to without coercion or duress.
3. The agreement is in the best interests of the children involved.
4. The needs of the children will be adequately met by the stipulated amount.
5. The right to support has not been assigned to the county, and no public assistance application is pending.

More on how those terms are worked out appears in the explainer on child support mediation.

A college expense agreement under section 3587 is a separate obligation from the child support order. Both can appear in the same judgment. One covers the child while support runs; the other covers what the parents agreed to provide after that.

Financial aid raises a separate question. Federal and school aid applications follow their own rules, and how a divorce affects which parent's information is reported is outside the Family Code. This article cannot answer that question. Schools' financial aid offices apply those rules and can explain them.

What Happens If There Is No Agreement

When a judgment has no section 3587 provision, neither parent can generally be ordered by a California court to pay college costs for an adult child. Parents who reach that point often feel the issue was left open at the worst time, just as their child starts applying to schools.

The option is not closed. Section 3587 is not tied to the date of the judgment. Parents can sign a stipulation after the divorce is final and ask the court to approve it. For a family whose case was in San Diego County, that request goes to the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, where the judgment was entered. The article on changing a mediated divorce agreement covers other changes after judgment.

Changing child support is a different matter. Under Family Code section 3651, a support order generally may be modified or terminated at any time as the court finds necessary. It generally cannot be changed for amounts that came due before a notice of motion or order to show cause to modify was filed. Section 3651 is about changing an existing support order. A college agreement under section 3587 is a new agreement between the parents.

Some judgments entered before a child turns 18 include a reservation of jurisdiction over college expenses. In plain terms, this is wording in the judgment saying the court keeps the issue open to address later. How much it does depends on its exact words. Read alongside section 3587, it is commonly used to leave room for the parents to bring an agreement back to the court.

Reaching a College Expense Agreement Through Mediation

Mediation is defined in Evidence Code section 1115 as "a process in which a neutral person or persons facilitate communication between the disputants to assist them in reaching a mutually acceptable agreement." The mediator is that neutral person. The mediator does not represent either parent, act as either parent's lawyer, or decide anything for them. Either parent may have a lawyer of their own.

What is said in mediation is generally confidential. Under Evidence Code section 1119, except as the Evidence Code's mediation chapter otherwise provides, what is said and written for the mediation is not admissible or subject to discovery, and communications between participants stay confidential. That protection has limits. Under Evidence Code section 1123, a written settlement agreement signed by the settling parties can be admitted or disclosed if any of the following is true:

• The agreement says it is admissible or subject to disclosure, or words to that effect.
• The agreement says it is enforceable or binding, or words to that effect.
• All parties expressly agree in writing, or orally as the Evidence Code allows, to its disclosure.
• The agreement is used to show fraud, duress or illegality relevant to an issue in dispute.

The explainer on whether a mediated agreement is binding goes further into that point.

In practice, parents can use mediation to talk through each part of a college provision: which kinds of schools are covered, such as community college, a state university, a private college or a trade program; how costs are split; what proof of enrollment and expenses is shared; and what happens if a student takes time off. Mediating does not change either spouse's duty to exchange financial disclosures. Those terms are then written into the agreement and submitted to the Superior Court of California for approval and inclusion in the judgment. In San Diego County, that court is the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego. If the parents settle some issues and not others, the guide to partial agreement in mediation explains what happens to the rest.

Simple Divorce Mediation works with couples in San Diego County and, through online divorce mediation, with couples anywhere in California. Mediation may suit parents who want to plan ahead for college and can talk about it with each other. Where there has been domestic violence, coercion or a protective order, safety comes first, and mediating with the other spouse may not be appropriate.

If You'd Like to Talk Through College Planning in Your Divorce

College terms touch many moving parts at once: your child's age and plans, how child support is set, what each parent can contribute, and how the wording will read years from now. A conversation can cover how section 3587 fits various timelines, which terms parents commonly address, and how a college provision typically sits alongside other divorce agreement terms, whether you and your spouse are in San Diego County or elsewhere in California. To talk with the practice about college expenses in a divorce agreement, call Simple Divorce Mediation at 858-330-1378 for a joint mediation consultation.

About this article. Reviewed by Amy J. Lass, CA Bar No. 246779. Last updated 2026-10-08.