<p>In Europe it’s even worse.</p>
<p><a href=“The dependent generation: half young European adults live with their parents | Young people | The Guardian”>http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/mar/24/dependent-generation-half-young-european-adults-live-parents</a></p>
<p>We see more of my oldest son now that he has graduated from college and lives about 90 minutes away than we ever saw of him when he was in college (which was 13 hours away)! That said, although he does come home a couple of times a month, he does not just sit around watching TV. He will mow the lawn or clean a bathroom or vacuum. He is attending law school this fall, and he’ll be about 70 miles from home. He’ll have his own place, but I imagine that he will visit once or twice during the fall for a good, home cooked meal. But he has his own life. He is a busy young man. I enjoy the visits, but I also enjoy hearing about all the neat things he does. His kid brother goes to college this fall. Hopefully, he will follow the example his older brother has set – find your niche and go for it.</p>
<p>Now THIS is scary, cupcake (from your article):
</p>
<p>It’s not the new normal, it’s the old normal. My kids will graduate debt free. I have no idea if they’ll come home or head to places unknown. Debt is the director for some of the 20-somethingswho live at home. However, the article does show at least one 20-something who’s using the family home to start a business. That’s old normal and it’s a smart trade-off for future success. </p>
<p>One of my kids lives with 5 other adults and one child in a house they rent in a nice suburb. It has worked out really well. Most of her friends are not welcomed to go back home.</p>
<p>I think this is the new normal. </p>
<p>I think it will also be the new normal for seniors too. It makes perfect sense. </p>
<p>Of course this will guarantee many prices will go up. We can’t have you sharing cable now can we!</p>
<p>Where we live, there are county zoning ordinances in residential neighborhoods that prohibit more than a certain number of unrelated people to live in one house.</p>
<p>Old news. What can be scary are some new reasons for college students coming back and staying home with parents after 4 years away at college. Some of them have taken out so much in loans, as have their parents, that there is no leeway in payback without living at home. Ironic that they took out the loans so they could go away for college and be so independent at age 18 and then in their 20s they are stuck back home because of that decision.</p>
<p>
Good point! So many of these kids just had to go away or maybe their parents insisted they “deserved” it because the student “worked so hard.” </p>
<p>One of our illustrious cc leaders, Dave Berry, posted this in a thread here <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1660835-it-s-official-the-boomerang-kids-won-t-leave.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1660835-it-s-official-the-boomerang-kids-won-t-leave.html#latest</a> and asked if his was the new norm. I think no. 20% is not a lot, IMO. further in that thread a poster linked this <a href=“The dependent generation: half young European adults live with their parents | Young people | The Guardian”>http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/mar/24/dependent-generation-half-young-european-adults-live-parents</a> . Now that is scarier, especially the note that 79% of young adults in Italy live with their parents. Yikes. </p>
<p>
There was a thread several years about this very issue. Truth be told, I wouldnt want my kids to marry into someone elses huge debt. </p>
<p>Of course it’s not the ideal. But if parent(s) and child can make it work for a while, it can help a lot with a bad situation for a new grad.</p>
<p>The number of posts of this thread jumps from 0 to 17 in a fraction of a second due to the merge of multiple threads.</p>
<p>This means this topic is popular.</p>
<p>Not long ago, after DS had looked at his debt level, he told us he might consider living with us for a while after he is graduated (not from an UG college!) so that he could pay off the student loans faster. I nodded and smiled but could not believe it (how likely will he end up in our city?!) I assume he could find a job after he graduates here. Knock! Knock!!</p>
<p>My son will have no debt to pay back after he graduates. He won’t be coming home to live either. If he doesn’t have a job he will just move to any one of a number of cities (likely either Boston, NYC, DC, SF) and look for work. We will supplement if necessary. Most likely will keep him on our cell phone plan, pay car insurance regardless - though he might not need a car at all. </p>
<p>Well, how nice for him that he can just move to whatever big, expensive city he prefers and you will supplement. LOL. That’s not exactly the situation this thread is about, though.</p>
<p>^ I don’t see anything wrong with him going to live in any of those big cities. He will likely have friends moving to all of them so people to share a place to live. Also, there are lots of jobs there so they are good places to look for work. He would be miserable coming home - and supplementing him will certainly be a lot cheaper than his college tuition was. </p>
<p>Emily, I didn’t say there was anything wrong with it, exactly. But, I’m guessing most of the kids who are coming home would also be just fine with mom and dad renting them nice apartment in their favorite big city. Sheesh!</p>
<p>^ I see is as a better way to for a kid to land a job tp go to someplace where there are a lot of entry level professional jobs than coming home to Podunk and trying to get a job. </p>
<p>I know a kid who, after graduating, moved to NYC without a job and spent all day, everyday literally knocking on doors. He ended up at a small cable TV channel (the kind that broadcast reruns of shows like Andy of Mayberry) selling time. He worked there for a few years and has just landed a great job at Univision - for a lot more money, too. It’s critical, imo, to go where the jobs are. Moving home may be penny wise but pound foolish. </p>
<p>That makes sense, emily. I think acting is right, too. Not everyone can afford to do that for their kids.</p>
<p>Okay, I’ll try one more time. These are students with debt. Penny wise and pound foolish is a way of life for people with debt. There’s no way around it. Anyway, even Podunk has a piddling TV station so I’m not sure I’d want to supplement a kid living in New York City to sell advertising. But, that’s irrelevant since it’s not one of the economically feasible options. They are coming home because there are no viable financial options. No-one is thrilled about it. Why are you assuming mom and dad have big city rent money? I’m not. They didn’t fund college so why would they fund post-college?</p>
<p>If my kid needed to go live in a city to look for a job, I might front them the money as a loan. And keep 'em on my cell phone plan. I guess it goes back to my parents instilling in me and my siblings that we HAD to be self supporting when we got out of college. We got four years of college from them (thanks, Dad!), and then were on our own. I have pushed the same idea with my kids. Older one got a good job prior to graduation a few years ago (started in August, so she was home for a couple of months, but that was fine). Company even paid her moving expenses so we could ship furniture, her bike, etc to her new apartment. 2nd one is in a major that likely will result in employment right after graduation as well. My experience is that setting that “you need to be self supporting at the end of four years” from the beginning has been quite helpful.</p>