In 1994 the Federal government hired two private groups, the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law (ABA) and CSR, Inc. to study the impact and operation of state child support guidelines mandated by Federal law in 1988. Under the 1988 law the states are required to review and update guidelines at least once every four years, meeting two requirements. States must (1) analyze cases applying or deviating from the guidelines and (2) consider the cost of raising children.

Researchers found that about half of the states did not submit the proper documentation, and may not have considered the cost of raising children. Massachusetts did "cite a Federal source, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' data on the cost of raising a family...[S]ome State materials identified limitations to the child-rearing cost information supplied to them. For example, some of the expenditure levels represented average amounts spent by intact families and failed to include costs for single-parent households (emphasis added)...While postsecondary education received a great deal of attention by guideline review teams, only one State review report seems to suggest how such expenses should be incorporated into the support calculation process."

Read a summary of this study at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/rpt/gdl_m.htm.