DES MOINES, Iowa — Child support obligations for college costs can be expanded beyond tuition and books to include items such as sorority fees, the Iowa Supreme Court said Wednesday.
“A college education is not limited to what is learned in the classroom; it includes social, cultural and educational experiences outside the classroom,” the court said. “The experiences outside the classroom impose additional expenses on the student.”
The ruling came in a Marshall County case where the court was seeking to determine the responsibility of James Goodman and Dorothy Goodman to finance the college education of their three daughters. The couple married in 1973, but divorced in 1992, court records said.
Stated law generally allows child support to continue after youngsters reach the age of 18, with each parent responsible for up to one-third of the cost of attending a public state university.
The high court said that in “the unique circumstances” of the case decided Wednesday, those costs should include both sorority fees and a cash allowance, costs that court records said the couple could afford.
The additional costs are “a necessary expense for Abby to participate in the social, cultural and educational experience outside the classroom,” the court said.
The court did not make its decision generally applicable in dissolution cases, but said the outcome was dictated by the unique circumstances of the case decided Wednesday.
Under state law, higher education child support subsidies are generally targeted for youngsters between the ages of 18 and 22.
In addition, the high court said child support obligations continue during the summer after high school graduation, before college classes begin. Support obligations generally end when a child reaches 18, but the high court extended that for youngsters about to begin a college education.