Does Child Support Continue Through College in Washington State?

Child support through college in Washington state is not automatic. Standard child support ends when the child graduates from high school or turns 18, whichever comes later, with a hard cutoff at age 19 for students still finishing high school.¹ After that, a court can order one or both parents to help pay for college or vocational school under a separate framework called post-secondary educational support, but only if a parent asks for it and the judge finds the statutory conditions are met.

When Standard Child Support Ends

The baseline obligation stops at high school graduation or age 18, whichever is later. If the child is still a full-time high school student at 18, support can continue, but it terminates at the end of the month the child turns 19 whether or not they have graduated.¹ Support also ends if the child becomes emancipated or if the paying parent dies.²

Nothing about college changes those dates on its own. If a parent wants financial contributions to continue past that point, they have to pursue a post-secondary support order under RCW 26.19.090.

How Post-Secondary Support Works

Washington is one of the states that allows courts to order parents to contribute to higher education costs, but the decision is discretionary. The usual child support schedule is “advisory and not mandatory” for post-secondary support, meaning a judge sets the amount based on the family’s situation rather than running the standard worksheet.³

Before ordering anything, the court must find that the child is actually dependent on the parents for the reasonable necessities of life.³ A young adult who has been self-supporting for a couple of years will have a much harder time clearing this threshold than one going straight from a parent’s home to campus.

What the Court Weighs

Once dependency is established, the court looks at a set of factors from the statute, and it is not limited to just these:³

The child’s age, needs, and goals, including whether they have the desire and ability to pursue the education in question.
What would have been expected if the family had stayed intact. If both parents assumed college from the start, that weighs heavily.
The parents’ own education, standard of living, and present and future ability to pay.
The nature of the program. A four-year university, a community college transfer path, and a vocational certificate have different costs and timelines.
Any physical, mental, or emotional disabilities the child has, which can affect both whether support is awarded and how long it runs.

The “intact family” factor often does the heaviest lifting. Judges use it to approximate fairness so the child is not worse off educationally because the parents separated.

Courts also expect the child to carry part of the load through work, financial aid, scholarships, and grants. A request that shows no scholarship applications and no employment history is a weaker request.

What Expenses the Order Can Cover

The statute refers broadly to “postsecondary educational expenses” without listing categories, which gives judges room to tailor the order. In practice, awards commonly address tuition, mandatory fees, books and supplies, room and board, and transportation.

Where the money goes is also addressed by statute. The court is directed to order payments made directly to the educational institution “if feasible.” When that isn’t workable, payments can go to the child directly if the child doesn’t live with either parent, or to the child or the receiving parent if the child lives with one of them.³

What the Child Has to Do

A post-secondary support order comes with ongoing conditions, and the consequences of missing them are built into the statute.

The child has to stay enrolled in an accredited academic or vocational school, actively pursue a course of study that fits their vocational goals, and remain in good academic standing as the institution defines it. If any of that slips, the support order is automatically suspended for as long as the conditions go unmet.³ “Automatically” is the key word. Neither parent has to go back to court for the suspension to take effect; payments simply stop until the child gets back on track.

The child must also make academic records and grades available to both parents as a condition of receiving support. Both parents get full and equal access.³ Federal privacy rules under FERPA normally let an adult student block parental access, but a Washington post-secondary order effectively requires the child to waive that protection in exchange for the money.

How to Ask for Post-Secondary Support

A parent requesting post-secondary support files a Petition to Modify Child Support Order (form FL Modify 501) in the Superior Court for their county.⁴

Timing is the part most people get wrong. The petition should be filed while the existing child support order is still active, meaning before the child turns 18 or finishes high school. Waiting until standard support has already ended risks the court concluding it no longer has authority to act.

After filing, the other parent must be formally served with the summons and petition. The court then schedules a hearing, and both parents file a Financial Declaration (form FL All Family 131) disclosing income, expenses, and assets.⁵ It helps to bring proof of the child’s acceptance and enrollment at an accredited school, academic records, an itemized cost breakdown from the institution, and documentation of the child’s own contributions such as pay stubs and scholarship award letters.

How Long It Can Last

Post-secondary support has a firm ceiling. A court cannot order payments beyond the child’s 23rd birthday. The only exception is for “exceptional circumstances, such as mental, physical, or emotional disabilities,” which can justify an order past that age.³

Before 23, support can end or pause for several reasons. Automatic suspension for enrollment or academic failures is the most common. Support ends when the program is complete. And because the whole framework rests on continuing financial dependency, a child who becomes self-supporting or marries will struggle to meet the threshold the statute requires.

Two Money Issues That Catch Parents Off Guard

Post-secondary support interacts with the FAFSA. For divorced parents, the “contributor” who provides financial information is the parent who provided the most financial support to the child, or, if contributions are equal, the parent with the greater income and assets.⁶ A support order can change which parent fits that definition, which can affect need-based aid. Working this out before the hearing is easier than reworking it after.

Health insurance is a separate track. Even after standard child support ends and regardless of whether post-secondary support is ordered, federal law requires health plans that offer dependent coverage to keep children eligible until age 26. That eligibility cannot be denied based on the child’s financial dependency, student status, marital status, or access to other insurance.⁷ If the original support order required a parent to maintain the child’s coverage, that specific obligation may end with standard support, but the option to keep the child on a parent’s plan to 26 exists outside the support order entirely.

1
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. What Is the Duration of an Administrative Support Order?
2
Washington State Legislature. RCW 26.09.170 – Modification of Decree for Maintenance or Support
3
Washington State Legislature. Revised Code of Washington 26.19.090 – Standards for Postsecondary Educational Support Awards
4
Washington Courts. Petition to Modify Child Support Order
5
Washington State Courts. Court Forms – List of All Forms
6
Federal Student Aid. Reporting Parent Information on Your FAFSA Form
7
eCFR. 45 CFR 147.120 – Eligibility of Children Until at Least Age 26