Most Americans Support Post-College Living at Home, but for How Long?
For recent college grads, moving back home no longer carries the same stigma it once did.
A MoneyLion survey found that 69% of Americans say it’s acceptable for young adults to live with their parents after college -- as high rent, student loan payments and everyday costs make independent living harder to afford.
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Still, there are limits to that support. Nearly 22% of respondents said age 25 is the oldest age they consider acceptable for living at home after graduation. Read on to find out why this is the case.
Why More Grads Move Home
For many recent college grads, living at home is less about comfort and more about buying time.
Rent, student loan payments and move-in costs can hit all at once during the first months of working full time.
“It is very easy to be fully employed, but mathematically unable to afford that barrier in month one,” said Cody Schuiteboer, president and CEO of Best Interest Financial. “I see this far more often than I see unwillingness to move out of the house.”
Schuiteboer explained that first and last month’s rent, security deposits and basic furnishings can cost between $4,000 and $7,000 before a graduate even receives a first paycheck.
Where Americans Draw the Line
While more Americans now accept young adults living at home after college, many still expect the arrangement to have an end point.
Support dropped sharply as the acceptable age increased, with far fewer survey respondents saying it was acceptable into someone’s 30s.
According to experts, the difference often comes down to whether living at home feels temporary or open-ended.
“Living at home until I’ve saved $40,000 by the end of three years is a healthy and strategic arrangement,” Schuiteboer said. “Living at home until I find the right place becomes unhealthy very quickly.”
The Difference a Plan Makes
Living at home after college usually works better when everyone sees it as temporary.
The tension tends to grow when there’s no real timeline, no savings goal and no agreement about what the arrangement is supposed to accomplish.
Martha Fernandez, licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and co-founder of Cerevity, a nationwide telehealth network, said the families who handle it best are usually the ones with a clear end date, a defined purpose and visible progress.
“The financial independence delay is real but it's almost always downstream of the harder issue,” Fernandez said. “The young adult has lost the sense of forward motion in their own life. Money is the symptom. Agency is the underlying issue.”
Why Families Run Into Conflict
Even when living at home makes financial sense, the arrangement can still feel awkward for both sides.
Parents may see the young adult as their child returning home, while the young adult may feel like they already left that role behind years ago. Many of the conflicts come from unspoken expectations around money, privacy and household responsibilities.
In addition, families often fall into “an endless loop” of creating new rules to deal with tension as it comes up, said Jacob Brown, licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT).
“Finding a solution requires both sides to acknowledge these ambivalent feelings,” Brown said. “And to recognize that they can’t solve the conflict with more rules. Instead, they have to create a new relationship.”
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This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
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