The study indicated that a major reason grads were shacking up with Mom and Dad was limited financial resources. Forty-seven percent of 2006 grads said they would leave school with more than $10,000 in student-loan debt, including 22 percent who said their student loan debt would end up exceeding $25,000. These are certainly hard burdens to bear for twenty-somethings just getting started on a career path.

But I can’t help thinking that members of Generation X, who graduated between eight and twenty years ago, faced many of the same financial limitations. Among my circle of friends, nearly all of us left college with some amount of debt, and most of us earned less than $30K a year in our first jobs. There was, however, a different mindset when it came to moving back home – as in, it wasn’t done. Despite the fact that I had to share my one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan with a complete stranger, returning to the safe haven of my childhood home was unthinkable to me. Moving in with my parents would have negated the whole point of college as a launch pad into the real world, and I’d have to admit at least a tiny bit of failure.

In addition to the very real financial hurdles, I do think there is a certain complacency among today’s grads. They grew up feeling cherished and supported by their parents, and they’re very close to them. Moving back home makes things easier, delays the traumatic transition to making their own way in life, and there’s no good reason for them not to do it. Many Generation Y parents, bemoaning their empty nests, are only too happy to open their homes and wallets to their twenty-somethings, regardless of what that means for their children’s adult development. But you have to wonder. College has already extended adolescence into the early twenties. Will this new trend mean that college grads aren’t forced to take on adult responsibilities until they’re pushing 30?

Alexandra Levit
http://www.getthejob.com/Community/blogs/

This Blogswap article is courtesy of Recruiting.com and CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students and recent graduates who are searching for internships and entry level jobs.