More College Grads Living With Parents
* Half of this year's graduates have moved back home and 44 percent of last year's graduates are still there, while 34 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds get cash from mom and dad — an average of $3,410 a year.
Exactly, when are these so called adults, going to actually take on adult responsibilities?
I haven't lived with my parents full time since high school. When I was in college, I only lived at home during the summer until my third year. I did live with other family members one summer and for about six months after I graduated. Then I shared a small apartment with 2 roommates.
My husband lived at home while he attended college. A few months after college, he moved into his own apartment which he shared with various roommates. After he worked for a few years, his parents suggested that he buy a house. By the time we got married, Henry had rented rooms to 20 or so different roommates.
A few years after we were married, one of Henry's old roommates came to visit with his wife and children. While preparing dinner, the former roommate commented that he used to have an apron just like the one I had one. I replied that, "It came with the house." We had a good laugh. I asked him if he wanted his apron back. He said no. Another funny thing, when we got married there were bits and piece of 10 different sets of plates, cups, and flatware in the kitchen. Henry could set the whole table with out matching one plate, cup or utensil.
I don't buy the argument about the high cost of housing being the reason to move home. It's about expectations. Young adults want right now what their parents took a lifetime to build. Also, as the first article mentions, more unmotivated students are getting diplomas and are working in low paying jobs that don't need a degree. Because they are burdened with college loans, they are finding it difficult to be independent.
As part of our home education curriculum, we are teaching our children that adulthood is not achieved by age, but by self-sufficiency and autonomy, and that money doesn't grow on trees.
I tell my kids that if they want nice things, they will have to earn it.
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Related Tags: Money Doesn't Grow on Trees, College Graduates, Adult children living at home, self-sufficiency, homeschool, home education
4 comments:
I agree with you for the most part.
I don't know about other parts of the country but right now it would be really hard for someone just starting out to get their own place. A small apartment on the Mississippi Gulf Coast cost more to rent then my pre-Katrina mortgage. We probably wouldn't be able to afford a house down here now.
I have also been doing some looking in the San Diego area and a houses smaller then the one I currently have, with no yards to speak of start at 500K, their is no way someone just starting out, especially if they have student loans to repay could afford that.
>I don't know about other parts of the country but right now it would be really hard for someone just starting out to get their own place.
That's the point. Someone just starting out shouldn't expect to get their own place, drive a nice car, and buy lots of "stuff".
My grandparents lived in a rented room in someone elses home the first few years of their married life. I shared a two bedroom apartment with two other roommates. Myself and another woman shared one bedroom and the other woman paid more for a room to herself. This was in Cupertino, California, one of the most expensive areas in the country to live.
When my husband bought his house, he lived in the room above the garage and rented out all the other bedrooms to help cover the mortgage.
We've had quite a few married friends with children who have managed apartments in exchange for no/reduced rent. In this way, they were able to save up for a home of their own.
The point is that this generation has become pathetically unresourceful. They feel entitled to a standard of living they didn't earn.
All my siblings and I were out of the house by 18. Actually, I was 18 and 3 months. I've told my kids they should expect to be out at 18, but my wife isn't so sure that rushing them out is always best. Since I work at a university where they can attend tuition free, living at home may be wise. Especially if they also are starting a business or something forward-looking. They will be out by 21 though.
I agree that adult children (18+) don't necessarily need to leave home, but that they need to be working and savings. The problem comes when they live at home, spend money frivolously, and expect someone else to cook and clean.
Some friends had the rule that children could live at home as long as they were a full time student or paying rent.
In a case like yours, I would expect my children to pay for their books, clothing, cell phone, transportation costs(car and insurance), and expenses like eating out. Also, I would expect them to do their own laundry and help out around the house.
You don't want to make things too hard, but you don't want things to be too easy either.
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