The Boomerang Kids

My column in Monday's Diamondback deals with "boomerang kids", college graduates who go back to "Living with the 'rents". Here's the intro:

You might assume that an adult still living with his or her parents is a loser. The stereotype of a basement-dwelling comic book nerd or George from “Seinfeld” is not one most people aspire to be.

Yet many college students are doing exactly what you think they would dread after graduation: moving back in with their families. Monster, the job search company, reports in a 2007 survey that 48% of prospective graduates plan on becoming “boomerang kids”, i.e. returning home. Although many expect to just make a quick pit stop, Monster finds that “42 percent of 2006 graduates say they are still living with their parents”.

There are several good reasons to move back home. Foremost among those is that it allows recent graduates to save money. But in talking to friends and classmates who will enter the workforce soon, I have found that hardly anyone is returning out of necessity. So if affordability is not the issue, what is?

Click to read the rest of "Living with the 'rents".