Education

HI MOM! Droves Of College Graduates Are Moving Home So They Can Afford Student Loan Burdens

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America’s twentysomething college graduates are moving back in with their parents in staggering numbers because they cannot otherwise afford the high payments on their student loans.

Almost half of America’s recent college graduates admit that they moved in with their parents for some period of time after getting their diplomas. Also, 26 percent of America’s current college students say their next big step in life after graduation will likely be to return home to their teenage bedrooms — or perhaps a room in the basement.

The data comes from a new survey by the brokerage firm TD Ameritrade, according to USA Today.

Graduates with student loan debt often feel forced to put off buying homes, getting married and saving for retirement because of their monthly loan payments.

Members of America’s millennial generation say they don’t think they’ll be rid of their student loans until they reach the age of 35, according to the TD Ameritrade survey.

Millennials, if you are not up on your demographic jargon, are the cohort of young people born in the last 20 years or so of the 20th century. (RELATED: Their Unrealistic Expectations Crushed At Last, Wealthy Millennials Now Shop At Dollar Stores)

The students and recent graduates who participated in the survey range in age from 20 to 26.

A majority said they would feel embarrassed if they were still living at home at age 28. However, about 40 percent said they have no problem sponging off mom and dad until they are well into their thirties.

Nearly a third of the students surveyed say they owe at least $10,000 in student loans. Some say they are up to their eyeballs in as much as $50,000 of debt. (Guy With USELESS Degree From $62,965-A-Year College Is REALLY SAD About His Student Loans, You Guys)

The average debt level for currently enrolled students in the TD Ameritrade survey is $11,475.

America’s accumulated student loan (which includes graduate and professional schools) has now reached a crushing total of $1.3 trillion. Over 44 million borrowers owe this collective amount. A typical student in the graduating college class of 2016 left campus with a diploma and a student loan debt of $37,172, according to Forbes.

To put this $1.3 trillion figure in perspective, it is more than the annual gross domestic products of Sweden, Greece, Chile and Israel — combined.

“Today’s college grads are clearly under financial strain due to escalating tuition and stagnant wages,” TD Ameritrade chief strategist JJ Kinahan told USA Today.

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