Twenty-six percent of millennial college students say they plan to move back home as soon as they earn their degree in order to pay off some of their student loans, according to TD Ameritrade's Young Money Survey of about 2,000 young adults.
Thirty-two percent of millennials between the ages of 20 and 26 say they owe between $10,000 and $50,000 in student loans. The average student loan balance was $10,205.
That is prompting more graduates to move back home with their parents to curb costs. Nearly half of the post-college millennials surveyed say they had "moved back to my parents' home after college." About one-fourth of those who are still in college say they expect to move back with their parents following graduation.
"Today's college grads are clearly under financial strain due to escalating tuition and stagnant wages," says JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade. "Moving back in with mom and dad is a short-term sacrifice that could pay off in the long run. But that's only if the 'boomerang' young adults are saving and wisely investing the thousands of dollars they would've spent on rent and other living expenses, and paying down their student debt."
Survey respondents ages 20 to 26 say they think it would be "embarrassing" to still be living with their parents by age 28. However, nearly 30 percent of respondents say they wouldn't start to feel embarrassed until they were between the ages of 30 and 34. Eleven percent say they would not feel embarrassed about living with their parents beyond the age of 35.
But college grads indicate that student debt is causing them to delay many aspects of their life. Forty percent of the survey respondents say their student debt has caused them to delay buying a home on their own; 27 percent say it has delayed moving out of their parents' homes; 21 percent blame student debt for delaying marriage; and 25 percent say it is delaying them from having children, the survey showed.
Source: “Parents: No Empty Nest for You. Student Debt Prompts Many Millennials to Move Back Home, Survey Finds,” USA Today (May 10, 2017)
