Since the housing-bubble burst in 2007, many graduates have discovered the benefit of moving home after college to save money and pay off debt. The amount of money saved can vary greatly from case to case depending on the borrower's family situation but generally, moving back home offers a sure-fire way to keep recent graduates' living costs at a minimum while paying down student loans.

More and more graduates moving back home

With the U.S. Economy experiencing troubled times over the last several years, more and more young adults have chosen or have been forced to move back home. According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in December of 2011, 53% of people 18 to 24 years of age had moved back in with their parents over the past few years, with one out of every ten college-educated adult between the ages of 30 and 34 facing the same dilemma.

Photo By Aaron Edwards

Save and pay

Graduating from college with an overwhelming burden of student debt can feel daunting to anyone starting out in the real world. With quality professional jobs difficult to find and housing and living costs steadily rising, graduates are finding that moving back home with their parents not only enables them to pay down their student loan debt, but also allows them some room to save money each month.

Though the exact amount of money a graduate-borrower is able to save by living with his or her parents varies widely depending on factors such as how much debt is owed, the profession he or she has chosen, and the availability of jobs, the average comes out to roughly $1000 per month, which can be of great help to anyone struggling with debt. Since it is also important that borrowers pay down their student loans responsibly, living with one's parents actually comes out to be the more ‘grown-up' thing to do.

Not all bad

While the thought of living back at home with one's parents may feel ominous, there are ways to make the experience, if not entirely enjoyable, at least workable for everyone involved. Try to establish basic ground rules and terms that are satisfactory to all. These things are paramount for making sure the transition from college to life back home go smoothly, said Tracy Metro, host of “I Live With My Mom,” a program on YouTube home and design channel, SPACEStv.

“The real question is how to be a grown-up in your childhood home, and that's by behaving like a grown-up,” said Metro, former host of TLC's “Designing Spaces.”

Good to Know

The benefit of moving home after college to save money and pay off debt in many instances outweighs the frustration felt by those who find themselves in this situation. One way to avoid feeling like a grown-up child, something every young adult who is just starting out dreads, is to acknowledge one's own adulthood and to act that way. Look at the situation not as if you are still a child, but as an adult who is indeed living independently but under the same roof with your parents. Do your own cleaning, buy your own food, chip in with the cooking and do your own laundry. In other words, take ownership and responsibility for your life in your parents' house. Go so far, even, as to offer to chip in with household finances; though each family deals differently with its finances, the offer to help establishes you as an adult who is independent enough to think of the welfare of others, as well as someone who is able to assert him-herself for the others' benefit. Win-win!