More grads staying home with parents, swamped in debt

[Deja Q]

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/PersonalFinance/story?id=2667773&page=1

Nov. 18, 2006 — Heather Schopp is a chiropractor in California dealing every day with her clients' physical pain. But her own pain is financial: At age 29 she is more than $170,000 in debt.

"I think about it every day," Schopp says. "I mean, I lay in bed, thinking in my head, 'Okay, how much money do I have? What will I have to do tomorrow? Do I have to buy anything?' "


http://abcnews.go.com/Business/WNT/story?id=2679133&page=1

Nov. 26, 2006 — American students are leaving college with more than just a degree these days. On average, graduates are entering the "real world" some $20,000 in debt.

Without the funds to live on their own, many graduates are returning home — their parents' home.
Cathy Stocker, co-author of "The Quarterlifer's Crisis," says the trend of moving back home might be a good solution.

"Why spend a lot of money on rent as a twenty-something when you're still trying to pay off educational debt, when you may be trying to put some money aside for graduate school, when you may be just trying to start off on the right foot financially?" she asked.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. My kids can't afford to go to school

Financial aid is not nearly as easy to get as it used to be.

[Reverend_Smitty]

2. I'm a twenty-something who is $20,000+ in debt and still living at home

and just to sweeten my situation I was recently kicked off my dad's health insurance, so I hope I don't get sick or hurt...hooray for the American Dream!

[grizmaster]

3. been working a lousy job for 7 years because they paid my tuition

Finished my bachelor's in the spring after 6 years part-time school and I'm looking for a real job now with a debt free magna cum laude in accounting.

And the only way I afforded it? By staying at home

[Generic Other]

4. Community college and state schools are still a bargain

but many students turn their noses up at anything but a "designer" label education.

It's sad because it's not the degree that will land you the job, it's what you bring with that degree that counts.

[Solo_in_MD]

11. Some state schools...

MD costs are much higher than CA for example

[itsmesgd]

5. sounds familiar, but there is a silver lining.

I had to move back home after a few years out of school and on the job due to overwhelming debt. I did not have more than 15K but I was unable to afford daily living expenses and monthly installments on the loans. After moving back and getting my head back above water, I came to loath the consumerism (not capitalism) that led me to that place. College kids are targetted for credit cards with high (up to 24.9% apr) with no visible means of repayment. I was briefly married to a girl (if 30 is still girl territory) who had worse problems with continued debt and spending. After getting out of that circumstance (about a year ago), I have been overwhelmed with a loathing of consumerism as I call it. I do not want to incur more debt and buy more and more "things". These things end up coming to own you when you work all day to make payments on the debt of things that take up space on your shelves. I rent a small house (not buying because of lack of faith in the dollar), drive a small toyota, and keep my expenses as low as I can. I have my own business and as in times like these when business is slow, I am not hurt by the decrease in income. I have come to enjoy the freedom of having little. Little stuff, little debts, little responsibility. Instead of worrying about which credit collector is calling, I now get to take time of to attend political rallies, volunteer for campaigns, or take small cheap camping trips into the shrinking wilderness. As a side note, by saving money to pay bills, I stopped eating McD's for nearly every meal. Since then, I have lost nearly 60 lbs in a year, going from 255lbs to 195lbs. Not bad for a guy who's 6'6''. This is the best that I have felt and looked since middle school.

[grasswire]

9. congratulations

I am very impressed by your story. May you continue to prosper and persevere.

[devilgrrl]

6. Wouldn't this situation fall under "ownership society"?

As in "We Own You"?

[SoCalDem]

7. People today are in a no-win situation

As the parents of young people today are squeezed like a crumpled up tube of toothpaste, they can not afford the cost of college. The kids cannot afford it either, since jobs no longer cover the costs.

In "my" day, a kid could work all summer and have enough to cover the next fall term.(including housing). Most had a small part-time job during school for "spending money", but it WAS possible for a kid to "work-their-way" through college.

An acquaintance of ours had his kid apply for every scholarship they could (the kid had a 3.7something GPA)..Result ZERO grant or scholarship, but they were advised to apply for LOANS. The parents were/are deep in debt, like many people their age, and yet their GROSS income was used as a disqualifier for their kid's eligibility for "hardship" financing.

If young people do manage to get to college these days, and DO graduate, lots of them and NOT READY to go it alone, because of the huge debts they have.

Just a generation ago, most young people started their adult lives with a low car payment, and that was about it. Is it any wonder why people are so unhappy and edgy these days?

We live in a so-so community and juts the other day I saw an ad for some apartments..nothing fancy.. "Rents Starting at $800 a month"...that's for a studio, folks.. The one bedrooms were over $1K a month.

I don't know how young people manage.. They are forced into cohabitation, or back to Mom & Dad's.

Remember too, that parents in their 50's & 60's are sometimes also care-taking for THEIR parents, while trying desperately to save for their own retirement (ha-ha-ha), and helping their now-grown children who are back with them, possibly for years.

These young people have a hard time "growing up" because they desire being on their own and maybe marrying and starting their own families, but how can they?

Out here, you cannot even rent a place without a credit check, and I know of people being turned down from renting a place because of school debt...and lots of employers do credit checks too, because they don't want stressed out , severely indebted employees.

It's not all that surprising when you hear of a 26yr old person who's a junior in college. If they use the PAYGO plan, lots will not get that degree until they are 30..and then they get the "stink-eye" from prospective employers who wonder "why it took them so long"..

can't win this one, folks..

[electron_blue]

8. After college, my bil moved back home with his mom and paid her

back every cent she paid toward his college ed and then some with what he saved by staying home, and then moved out 3 years later on his own in a house. It worked for him and his mom. Sounds like the ideal situation, I know of many others that don't work out as well, of course. Still, I really admired him for that.

[hunter]

10. The Democratic Party should make a huge issue of this.

When I was in school more than twenty years ago I didn't take out any loans. The state university system was inexpensive enough that my family and I could afford it, and my parents and grandparents were not by any measure wealthy, or even "upper middle class."

I could pay my entire tuition working a couple of days a month moving furniture or doing construction. I knew people who were paying for college working part time in fast food places.

That's not possible now, except maybe if you live at home and attend a Community College. An AA or AS is better than nothing, but it doesn't make you an engineer or a doctor or a teacher...

All these student loans are free money for the banks since the United States assumes the risk. It is time "We the People" snagged these loans back from the banks and engaged in a massive repayment program in which public service jobs other than the military have very generous loan repayment programs, negotiated with the banks at an arm-twisting discount -- no more free ride for the banks at the people's expense.

Furthermore university education ought to be subsidized so that the majority of students attending public schools graduate without debt, especially in fields that directly benefit the economic and public health of this nation.