Associated Press

College Grads Moving Back Home to Boomer Parents
-- And Staying

July 29, 2006

Justin Clark lives in a million dollar waterfront home rent free. Most weekends he takes the jet boat for a spin down the Intracoastal and when he comes home from work there's usually a hot meal on the table and clean clothes in his drawer. Not a bad life for a 25-year-old starting out in the roofing business. Of course, his parents own the home and the boat. His mom still does the cooking and laundry for him and his sister, Jackie, a 24-year-old teacher, who also shacks up with mom and dad.

The Clarks are two of thousands who fled the nest for college, only to return home after graduation when plagued by student loans, dicey job prospects and harsh real estate markets. Experts call them "boomerang kids" and estimate that between 48 and 66 percent of 2006 college grads are planning to shoot back home this year. But new studies show, boomerang kids aren't just moving back home in higher numbers - they're staying there for a couple of years. According to one study, four in 10 are still living with their parents. "It's free, the cooking is a lot better and you get to live in a lot nicer place than I normally would with my salary," said Clark, who moved to his parents' South Florida home one year after graduating with a business and economics major from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif. "And I can save up for a place of my own versus paying rent."

In the past, moving home was a stigma for kids and parents, said David Morrison, president of TWENTYSOMETHING Inc., a young adult consulting agency in Philadelphia. "Parents felt they failed their children somehow. Now, it's a widely accepted mainstream option for college grads, a very pragmatic response to the economy around us," said Morrison.

The average graduate has $2,200 in credit card debt. Close to two-thirds of college kids have student loans, with an average debt of $17,600, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research. While financial woes are a large part of the trend, experts say the 20-somethings just plain enjoy spending time with their baby boomer parents. "The Millennials are a group that, like their parents, spent a lot of time in the station wagon going to soccer practice. They spent a lot of time together, they've got good relationships with them," said Mike Rollo, associate vice president of student affairs at the University of Florida.

Moving back home give kids a chance to get to know their parents as peers. Dinner discussions focus on politics and the economy, not nagging about homework and chores. Many boomers also have more money. So their children, for the most part, are accustomed to cushy nests - nests that are nearly impossible to afford with student loans, meager starter salaries and bloated real estate prices. "You can't live in as nice a house as your parents live in, go out to the same restaurants your parents go to," said Rollo. "There's a desire to live in that lifestyle."

Of course, living at home doesn't necessarily mean a free ride. Clark, who makes about $35,000 a year plus commissions, mows the lawn and does other home improvements, while his sister does the dishes and helps with the cooking and cleaning. Susan Zazzara said her 25-year-old son, Brian, has also been great since he moved back in with her and her husband two years ago. "He's always helping me around the house," she said. "He contributes to when we go out together to eat." The arrangement is going so well that many of the kids who moved back home last year are still there. Less than half say it's because of financial strains, according to one study.

But it's not all a Brady Bunch family reunion. It can be easy to lapse into familiar patterns like badgering kids to clean their room. And there's always the delicate matter of when a child brings a member of the opposite sex home for a sleepover for the first time. Tony Jiminez has always enjoyed a close relationship with his parents, so it was an easy transition when he decided to move back to his childhood home in Coconut Grove in May. Although his parents are great, Jiminez says they just can't shake the habit of checking up on him constantly - even though he's 24-years old. "I got home at four or five in the morning on a Monday night and they're like 'This can't be going on,'" said Jiminez, a 2004 University of Florida grad who moved back after two years in a rewarding but low-paying government job in Washington D.C. "Yesterday, I hadn't been home all day. When I got home at eight at night, they were like, 'Where have you been?'"

Susan Zazzara admits it's tempting at times to nag her son, but says she tries to hold back. "When he's going out, it's like where are you going, who are you going with, when are you going to be home, like you were still in high school. You have a tendency to do that, but you try not to." Zazzara said. "We recognize the fact that he's an adult." Jiminez, who is considering grad school, doesn't plan to live at home for more than 18 months, though he say there's definitely no stigma attached. "The majority of my friends live with their parents," he said. "It's easier living at home financially. It makes more sense. I vowed to myself that I wouldn't pay rent again until I was able to get my own place."

* * *