My daughter just graduated and is planning on attending grad school (uncertain where at this time and possibly online). What she does know is that she wants to live on the west coast~ Wyoming, Arizona, Utah… She graduated with a degree in history and completed a wonderful internship last year and is hoping to return this summer. Currently, she is searching for “any” job that she can find “short-term” (fast food, retail, supermarket). Although I would never tell her not to go, I worry about her leaving, affording grad school, rent, utilities,… without a job. Just wondering if anyone else has had a daughter or son who has moved across country without any set agenda? I guess we all worry as parents as our children grow older.
Congrats to her on graduating!
Now I think is the time to make some concrete education plans keeping finances in mind. Does she know what grad school will entail in terms of future career plans? Does she have a list of schools picked out already? Has she started applying? Does she have a valid reason for going to the West Coast? Is she prepared to handle all the responsibility that comes with it?
Now’s the time to make some tough decisions.
As long as your daughter is planning to support herself, even at subsistence level, I’d say bless her and happy trails. If you can’t do this when you’re 22-ish and unencumbered, when can you? I knew many people in my own generation (graduated college 1979) who took a meandering path to their eventual occupations. I worked in another country and travelled for 2 years, then went to grad school (with moderate loans, long since paid off) and have a very stable and interesting occupation in health care. Good luck to her!
She has searched several grad schools and plans to begin applying in the next week. She had an internship in Arizona last summer and discovered she loves the area. I definitely encourage her to do what she loves and love whatever path she chooses. Her father and I will help her if needed, but she knows we put her through 4 years of college and she needs to put herself through grad school and work.
A lot of kids I know did what your daughter is planning to - moving far away after graduation, without set plans. They did fine, and so will your daughter. She sounds more together than many recent grads 
When she departs, how much money will she have to live on until she gets on her feet? Unless you/she has friends/family that she can depend on in case of emergency, I would be very concerned.
35+ Years ago, my H moved across county with only about $700 to his name…but his dad had a cousin who lived in H’s new city and the cousin let H live with their family till he was employed and could get an apt.
I would be concerned if your D doesn’t have enough money or a safety net of some sort.
Stating the obvious*- you must REALLY believe in global warming and the rise in sea level to ALREADY categorically refer to Wyoming, Utah, and Arizona as “The West Coast”. I am not quite ready to go there yet, and I thought I lived in the future! The astute student may wonder to where the REAL west coast states of Idaho and Nevada disappeared. 
- Perhaps not obvious to East Coast denizens.
See if she can register with some temporary employment agencies. My D started out living with us and working as a temp. Since she didn’t have any living expenses, she saved all her earnings, then eventually moved to the city where she wanted to live with a pretty good financial cushion. She was staying with a friend in the new city at first, and again registered with employment agencies and did temp work until she got her current permanent position. If she had wanted to continue doing temp work she could have done that.
I agree with those who question the move. It carries significant expense and risk and no career or academic benefit. I can understand wanting to do this, but that does not make it a good idea! If she is serious about either grad school or a job, there are a dozen better ways she could be spending this time. And she needs to realize that she is currently in a narrow window when getting into grad school and/or getting that first job is going to be easiest. Is a few months in Arizona worth risking all that?
I know a lot of kids who just picked a place where they wanted to live after graduating and moved there without a job. Most picked up work any old place while they looked for a “real” job. San Francisco, NYC, Boston and DC seem to be where most of the kids I know moved. They all found their way and got good jobs.
If my S doesn’t have a job lined up before graduating this year, he is going to do the same thing with our blessing. We do not want him moving back home and he doesnt want to either. We may have to subsidize him for a bit but that is fine with us. He is very hard working and has had a job since high school which he goes back to over breaks and he has a job on campus, along with having internships two summers, so we know he will make it.
Our D graduated last June. She is currently living in DC with 4 friends, and while she has 2 jobs in her field - she barely makes ends meet. She has applied for PhD programs for the fall, but if she doesn’t get in then she is going to do what the OP’s D proposes. We’ve told her to look for a cheaper city (DC is outrageous) and just get any job til she decided what to do with her life. My biggest concern is moving to a city where she doesn’t know anyone, but she’s currently considering Austin or Dallas where she has a few friends from HS. Starting out is scary but you’ve got to start somewhere.
I guess the thing that bothers me most is the ‘possibly online’ for grad school. I would be careful with that. Also, I’m confused if she is looking for jobs now near you or in AZ or wherever (since when in WYO near the coast?) I hope she is applying to grad school in one of those locations. My dd was actually in AZ recently too and really liked it and mentioned is a so livable and you could just go do something outdoors whenever you like (does she not get that you can’t hike in 100 degree plus temps?) Anyway, why look for such low end jobs that don’t look good on the resume? I do think going with a temp agency is better. Also craigslist has a lot of good leads for short term work. And Indeed.com has a way to search for temporary jobs. For next summer she should be aware that many places will not offer internships unless you are enrolled in school.
Are there student loans that will come due if she doesn’t enroll in grad school right away? Is she (or you) prepared to start making those payments?
I don’t oppose the idea of making a move, but I would figure out if grad school is immediate or pushed off to the future. If grad school is going to be more immediate, I would wait to move until I picked which grad school to attend. (Why move to one city and try to make contacts and friends if you know you are moving again within a year?)
Finding a city with a grad school you are accepted to is good. Finding that city that also have some kind of contacts/old friends/distant relatives…that would be priceless.
“And she needs to realize that she is currently in a narrow window when getting into grad school and/or getting that first job is going to be easiest”
I have to disagree. Many grad schools nowadays prefer applicants with a few years of real life experience. For example, the program my D applied to specifically required 2 years of employment in a related field. She needs to take her GRE exam while she is fresh out of undergrad to minimize the prep time and expense; the scores are valid for 5 years. If she was a good student, her study skills are not going to deteriorate in a few years between undergrad and grad schools (I speak from personal experience).
Anyway, it will be 1.5 years at the very least before she can start grad school. Many applications for fall 2015 are likely already closed, and the new cycle for fall 2016 will begin in a few months.
I did a quick lookup of graduate school application deadlines for a few schools in the Pacific Northwest. There was still time to submit, but there were early admission deadlines that have already passed and some of the other deadlines are fast approaching.
@ItsJustSchool, rest assured, this New Englander noticed it immediately, but I was biting my tongue. B-)
Deborah, a rushed grad school application is a weak application. Since OP’s D will most likely need a funded program, she need to do her research carefully and tailor her applications strategically. Plus, it is mid-January. Will she be able to prep for and take the GRE and secure references in such a short period of time?
I hear you, BB. I wasn’t commenting on the wisdom of applying (or which states are “West Coast”…), just that it is still possible to submit an application to some grad schools for fall admission.
Living in the southeastern U.S., my brain just kind of groups everything west of the Mississippi River as “The West” !
To many here in WA, anything east of the Rockies is “east coast,” so I have no problem with AZ and Utah being thought of as west coast.
She should look for Roommate Wanted posts in Craigslist to see what her target areas would cost and how much is available. It’s a little late in the season, but Park City and Salt Lake City have ski area jobs and a ton of young, fun people.