http://www.marketwatch.com/story/half-of-parents-support-their-kids-after-college-2014-06-09?siteid=YAHOOB June 9, 2014, 12:33 p.m. EDT
Half of parents support their kids after college
By Quentin Fottrell
A college degree will help Americans get a leg up on the job market. But financial independence proves more elusive as graduates tap their parents for help with living expenses, new research finds.
Some 50% of recent college graduates say they’re receiving financial help from their family, while an additional 19% say they need financial help from their partner or spouse. This is despite the fact that half of these graduates have full-time jobs, according to the latest installment of an ongoing study, “Arizona Pathways to Life Success for University Students,” carried out by Joyce Serido, an assistant research professor at the University of Arizona, who has been tracking 2,000 people at colleges nationwide since they were freshmen in 2008.
The study underscores the continuing struggle facing college grads at a time of relatively high unemployment and rising student-loan debt.
Of the 1,010 college students surveyed in the latest installment, 89% graduated from University of Arizona or another program, 8% were still enrolled in an undergraduate program and 3% didn’t graduate. Of those who completed their undergraduate degree, 49% had a full-time job, 20% had a part-time job or were self-employed, 9% were in graduate school and working part time, another 9% were in graduate school and not working, 7% were not seeking work while 6% considered themselves unemployed. “Parents of the young adults I surveyed were not as acutely aware of the cost-benefit of college,” Serido says.
Roughly 85% of parents, including those with young children, plan to offer their children monetary aid after college graduation by providing health insurance, assisting with rent or putting up their post-graduates at home, according to another recent study by Upromise, the savings division of Sallie Mae, the student lender. Almost 1 in 3 expect to provide their children with financial assistance for up to six months, and approximately 50% plan to help foot bills for anywhere from six months to more than five years.
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