Rearing Children After College, "Adultolescence"

In late December, Money Magazine online published this report called Your adult kids are back. Now what? by Jean Chatzky, Money Magazine editor-at-large. It speaks to the growing phenomenon of College graduates who return home broke and financially dependent. Read on.

But boomerang kids are now so common that social scientists have dubbed the phenomenon "adultolescence," a period following college that can last five or more years.

More than 65% of graduates are moving back home, compared with 53% just five years ago. And while the difficult stages of childhood may have had lasting emotional impact, this one has financial ramifications galore for you - about $5,000 a year, on average, in assistance - and your kid.

How did adultolescence come about? Blame rising college costs and rampant consumerism. Today the average graduate emerges with nearly $20,000 in student loans and $4,000 in credit-card debt. Meanwhile, she faces a world in which rents have skyrocketed over recent decades but starting salaries, adjusted for inflation, have dropped 17%. She can't cut it, so she falls back on the bank of Mom and Dad for support in the form of either cash or an invitation to move back home.

Click on the link for the entire story - a good read.