This is a comparative study of the significance of education for attaining a stable partnership with children, an important life goal for most individuals. Comparisons are made between Sweden, France and the USA, three countries with very different levels of societal support for families with children. A stable family life increases individual well-being, which in turn contributes to society's productivity and welfare. To achieve a stable family life requires resources and education is the first step in acquiring such resources. Research on effects of education on a stable family life is fragmented, as is research on the points in the life course at which educational effects are most pronounced. Almost no comparative research has been conducted on these effects. The project investigates the significance of education for five key family events: first union, first and second birth, marriage of cohabiting couples, and separation or divorce. It uses life history data from the 2000 Swedish Level of Living Survey, the 1999 French Family Survey and the 2002 U.S. National Survey of Family Growth, along with analytic methods that control for unobserved heterogeneity. We pay particularly attention to the way in which support for families with children and the importance of family life in Sweden may reduce effects of education on the attainment of a stable partnership with children.