'You could wake up dead’: Dave Ramsey's warning to Boston dad who wants to divorce his wife to save $100K on college tuition

Their oldest child is currently attending a state school, for which they're paying in-state tuition.

But their youngest wants to go to school out of state and the couple happens to own a second home in that state. So, Dave's question for Cruze and Ramsey was: "Should my wife and I get a divorce so we can change one of our permanent residences to that state and keep the other permanent residence in our state?"

He goes on to say, "My wife and I love each other very much and the paperwork wouldn't change our relationship."

So, has this couple found a hack to save tens of thousands of dollars?

Dave Ramsey doesn't think so.

Just say no

The co-hosts were not on board with Dave from Massachusetts's plan to save on tuition. Cruze was to the point: "I think if you can't afford the out-of-state tuition, y'all can't afford the college."

Ramsey agreed: "Here's an idea: Tell your kid no. Oh, there's a shocking concept," he quipped.

"Dude, you're weird. I mean, who talks about divorcing their wife to get in-state tuition?" Ramsey said.

While both Cruze and Ramsey agreed that this wasn't a good plan, they did split on whose fault it was. Ramsey pinned it on the "spoiled brat," while Cruze thought it was the father's fault.

"Don't you blame this on that 18-year-old. This is the dad's idea," Cruze said, to which Ramsey replied, "I'm going to blame it on the whole dysfunctional family."

Ramsey also joked that the father shouldn't tell his wife about this plan. "That would be danger. You could wake up dead," Ramsey said.

Fraud is no joke

All jokes aside, a plan like this does have the possibility of putting a family at risk. While Dave from Massachusetts may currently be thinking about all those zeroes in the cost of out-of-state tuition, he's likely not taking into account all the things that could go wrong.

Firstly, carrying out a plan such as this would be fraud, if the person claiming to reside in the state doesn't actually move and take up residence in the second home.

And, even if that parent does move, establishing that you live in-state may require more than simply putting an address on a college application. Residency requirements will likely mean that you have to live in the state for a minimum amount of time before applying to school, often 12 consecutive months, but potentially longer; institutions may have their own guidelines as well (2).