The paperwork that comes with turning eighteen

The moment your student turns eighteen, they become a legal adult, and a handful of things change that never make it onto a packing list. The university won't discuss their grades with you. A hospital won't tell you why they were admitted. Their bank won't talk to you. Not because anyone is being difficult - because the law changed the day they had a birthday.

Three documents fix most of it. Most families handle them without a lawyer in an afternoon, though the exact forms and rules vary by state and some situations do call for one. It is an important afternoon to work through with your newly minted adult, and worth doing together rather than for them.

If you are a guardian rather than a parent

Legal guardianship of a minor generally ends when that minor reaches the age of majority - eighteen in most states. So everything on this page applies to you as much as to a parent, and arguably matters more: whatever authority your guardianship papers gave you over school records and medical decisions typically ends on the same birthday that the school and the hospital stop talking to a parent.

The remedy is identical. Every document below is signed by the student, and they can name anyone they choose, including you. Nothing in them requires you to be a parent.

Health insurance is the one place the answer can differ. The federal rule that lets a young adult stay on a plan until twenty-six is written around a parent's plan, and a guardian's plan may not qualify the same way. That one is worth confirming with the plan itself and with the school, well before the waiver deadline.

FERPA - so the school will talk to you

FERPA is the federal law that makes your student's education records private, from you. (Technically the FERPA shift happens when they enroll in college, whatever their age - not on their birthday - but for most families the two land in the same summer.) A signed FERPA waiver, which the school provides, lets the university share grades, billing, and academic standing. Without it, "I'm their parent and I pay the tuition" gets you exactly nowhere.

HIPAA authorization - so a doctor will talk to you

If your student is in the campus health center or an emergency room, HIPAA privacy rules keep the staff from telling you anything. A HIPAA authorization, naming you, changes that. This is the one parents most wish they'd had, and only at the worst possible moment. Set it up now so you never find out the hard way.

Healthcare & financial power of attorney

A healthcare power of attorney lets you make medical decisions if your student can't. A financial (durable) power of attorney lets you handle their bank, tuition account, or a lease problem when they're eight states away. Both are boilerplate for a healthy eighteen-year-old, and both are the kind of thing you set up once and hope never to use. The same birthday is when they can first hold credit in their own name, which is worth starting deliberately rather than by accident: see their first credit card.

Health insurance - your plan or the school's?

Turning eighteen and heading to campus does not knock your student off your health plan; under federal rules they can usually stay on a parent's plan until they turn twenty-six. But most colleges require proof of insurance, so they enroll every student in the school's plan by default and bill for it unless you waive it, before their deadline each year. So there is a decision, and a form, waiting for you.

One factor to weigh is network: does your plan actually cover care near campus? If your student is staying in-state and your plan's doctors and hospitals reach the college town, waiving the school plan usually saves real money. If they're out of network far from home, the school plan (or a supplemental option) may be worth keeping. Check the coverage map, then either waive on time or budget for the school plan.