They’ve been called many things — the Millennial Generation, Generation Y, Echo Boomers, Digital Natives, Tightrope Generation, Generation Next, Generation Me. Now they are earning the title of the Boomerang Generation. If you have a recent college graduate, or a college student due to graduate in the next few years, chances are that you should be getting that bedroom or basement ready to welcome your student home again.
It may be reassuring to some parents with students moving back home, and to those students as well, to know that they are not alone. One survey suggests that 85% of college seniors expect to move back home, at least for a time, and a 2016 UBS survey found that 63% of millennials actually do move home after graduation.
Although career prospects have improved, as more young adults graduate with high college debt, face rising rents and stricter mortgage standards, they are apparently postponing marriage and starting families and choosing instead to live at home — at least for a while. According to a Pew Research Company analysis of recent census data, approximately 32% of 18-34 years olds live in their parents’ homes. According to the Wall Street Journal, the United States has the highest percentage of young adults living at home since 1940.
So it is clear that for many graduates moving back home not only makes sense, but may be their only option. Some may stay for a short while and others may settle in for the long haul.
