Mother, Can You Spare a Room?

The Wall Street Journal ^ | May 3, 2013 | KIRSTEN GRIND

[MinorityRepublican]

As Rachel Zahn's three children were growing up, she liked to warn them, half jokingly, not to overstay their welcome. "Checkout time at this hotel is age 18," the 56-year-old nonprofit director would tell them.

It hasn't worked out that way. A year and a half ago, Ms. Zahn's oldest son, Sam, 25, asked if he could move back to the family's home in Solana Beach, Calif.—near San Diego—with his girlfriend in tow. He wanted to save money when attending graduate school while his girlfriend worked full-time.

Ms. Zahn and her husband agreed. Sam and his girlfriend moved into his old bedroom.

"We made that decision to let him save money," Ms. Zahn says. "The cost of living in San Diego is crazy."

The Zahns are hardly alone. As an expected 1.8 million college graduates descend on the real world this month and next, many of them will move back in with their parents. The trend is keeping the graduates from assuming responsibility for their own finances.

Parents, meanwhile, are finding themselves stuck caring for children, sometimes for much longer than they planned, with no exit plan in sight—often damaging their own financial health and retirement savings.

Financial advisers say hosting an adult age child back at home can cost between $8,000 a year to $18,000 a year, depending on how much parents are shelling out for extras like travel and entertainment.

[JayGalt]

Your response and the couple right before gave me some hope for Freepers. The others were really shocking. Family pulls together and in doing so reveals the meaning and joy in life.

Instead of letting your children know you expect that they will be deadweights and leeches unless you demand they pay rent why not be genuinely interested in them, and the way you can help them on their path. Why not have faith that they will grow toward the light and be a witness to your belief in them and their abilities. If you can afford to help them get a proper start through extra education and a savings in rent/expenses why wouldn’t you be glad to do so?

Will that dishonor you or them if given gladly, or will it enable them to have a better start so they can accomplish more of their dreams and ambitions. If they are not working towards something I would not help them avoid responsibility for their destiny but to help through a legitimate rough patch or to let them save for a few years while starting out I would certainly help if I could do so, without a second thought.

[napscoordinator]

A Bachelor’s Degree is basically what a High School Diploma was just twenty years ago. The problem is so many people have a Bachelor’s Degree today that having a Master’s Degree is what is special and helps to get you in the door. That is just the way it is today. I know a lot of FREEPERS hate advanced education, but that is what getting a job today takes. I am glad that I received my Master’s Degree back in 2000 because soon having a Master’s Degree will be you basic minimum degree needed to get a job. Unless someone gets some sort of trade, you will need to have a Master’s Degree to get any professional job very shortly.

[RWB Patriot]

It wasn’t because of that.