Is it normal to still be dependent on your parents after graduating from college?

Yes, it’s normal. Hopefully, it won’t last a year. I’m sure you’ll get a job before a year. Save up your money while living at home and then you can move out once you have a few thousand saved. Even living there a year isn’t abnormal, but I think you’ll get tired of living there probably. Did you live at home while in school?

It’s normal here in the UK. Young people are staying with their parents longer as it becomes more difficult to get on the property market, while rents are unaffordable. Make the most of the time with your parents while you save for your independence.

Whether or not it is normal would be a subjective judgment. It certainly is common.

As has been said, it’s not uncommon for young people to live with their parents for much longer than they did in the past.

I think it’s important to value the time though and not to take advantage of your parent’s support. Use the time to study and improve yourself and save your money so you’ll be in a better position to get your independence once you do have stable employment and some money behind you.

I think it’s perfectly ok, until you become a burden. Try to work somewhere to give them money for your part of the food and shelter. Help them in any way you can, and try not to argue with them all the time. Their house, their rules.

It did not used to be but in the last twenty years it has become commonplace.

@ARE_you_kidding_me what did kids do during this “used to be?” Graduate and within ten minutes had a job and savings and an apartment? I would think most kids need at least a short time in between college life and real life, even if it’s just a month. Let alone the cultures where is normal to live at home until married.

@JLeslie They got a job doing whatever, had room mates, they did not start off in debt. Now, it’s harder and those few months you are talking about can stretch into years. When I graduated the first time I moved back in for a few months while I saved enough to get my own shitty apartment so I did not have to share it with others. I think I had a second hand couch, a twin mattress, a coffee table I made from an old kick drum and some discarded birch plywood. I think I bought a small TV, toaster oven and a computer. It just took a few paychecks to get started and I was not making too much back then either. That was almost 20 years ago. Now it’s not that easy with jobs more scarce and rent sky high. Throw in the fact that kids now start off with a mortgage payment worth of debt….

“Normal” is whatever your particular situation requires.

äsked and answered elsewhere

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@Setanta has the right of it.

Yes it’s normal. Especially nowadays. In fact, if anything, the idea of “leaving the nest” as soon as you’re an adult is a bit abnormal. In most cultures it’s pretty standard to live with one’s parents until you get married and begin a household of your own.

@ARE_you_kidding_me All of my friends lived with a roommate when they first were out on their own after graduating. Either it was a friend(s) or an SO/husband. Many of us went back home for at least a few weeks or some months as we found jobs, and figured out what exactly to do. Some people who go to school where they will be living I guess maybe stay in the same apartment for a while and don’t go back home. A few others maybe go right to work after graduating, but I would think that’s not the majority.

Not only is it normal, but pretty much the rule. The load young people carry these days is truly frightening, and is by comparison to my own youth, downright oppressive. The shift which has occurred since my years in college is so regressive that it is difficult for young college graduates these days to appreciate how they have been effectively robbed of the freedom which should accompany their youth.

My daughter lived at home right after college then moved out for two years got tired of it, and came back home so she could pay off her student loans and her car. We love having her with us and she seems to like it here. She knows she’s free to move out any time she wishes.

Both my grown sons and my grown grandsons have lived with me off and on over the years. With economy like it is, is it very common for people to need help.

It was the same for us in the days when our parents were still available to help.

We are very fortunate that Hubby is in a very well paid, stable job. His talent in computer technology has really paid off.

oh god I hope not

Ha @Rarebear. I remember thinking like that. I remember hearing an older couple talking to their friends in the cinema about how their 30 plus year-old son was living with them again. I distinctly remember feeling sorry for them. Now I have two adult children living with me again. Luckily they’re good people and I like having them around and we have plenty of space for privacy and we’re not under each other’s feet.

Why will they be supporting you for a year after graduation. Living with them for a year is one thing, but handing you cash, paying for a car/ins/gasoline/food/etc. is another. Get a job. Any job. And continue your search for a better job i your field. Can’t your college help with employment??

Unfortunately, it’s very much a normal and common situation. This is due to underpay, unemployment, high living costs, high housing costs and more. As these reasons are outside of your control, it’s nothing to be ashamed of either, merely a fact of our current society.

@AsaraFayre It’s deeper than that. There has over time been a fundamental shift in the load borne by the people of the country. And the examples of where this is clearly pronounced and undeniable are all both vital necessities and clear cut examples of the failure of government in serving its constituency to the benefit of interests profiting enormously at public expense. The 3 right off the top are 1. the indebtedness required for a college degree 2. the obscene and crippling costs of health insurance 3. the crisis in child care. The 3 of these represent situations which ON THEIR FACE bode catastrophe for the national interest. While the childcare issue is more about just plain neglect, Issues 1 & 2 are CLEARLY about the skinning of the public to the benefit corporations and the monied elite.

@AsaraFayre Oh boo hoo. There are jobs. I just read on my alma mater’s website that 93% of of graduates were employed in their fields or enrolled in graduate programs within six months of graduation. Parents should not let their college graduates refuse to grow up by continuing to support them. It’s not fair to the offspring or the parents. I think college students heard for four years that they wouldn’t be able to find a job, SO THEY DON’T.

@stanleybmanly Where does child care come into this?

Maybe parents should help pay the college debt instead of paying increased food and utility bills while their kids live at home. I’m disgusted by the debt and high tuitions, but putting aside my disgust and just dealing with the reality of the debt, I don’t get why the country is always talking about young adults having such college debt, when a percentage of students have their parents paying or helping to pay for school, and more parents should be thinking ahead when their kids are young.

I realize some parents can barely afford their own expenses on a very small income, but anyone driving around in a new BMW and has every new gadget needs to check their priorities.