| Mom, Dad, I’ve decided I’m coming home |
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| Written by Nathan Wilke | |
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Graduation is coming around again. No luck finding a job among the record turnout of recruiters? Apply to grad school. Don’t want to sit through class for another few years? You could always move back home. With UMR’s high job placement rate for graduates (92% of students reported firm post-graduation plans last year), finding your self all dressed up in cap and gown with no place to go may sound strange. But in the spring of 2002, 63% of graduates said they planed to live at home in a MonsterTRAK.com poll. But desperation is far from the only motive that could lead some students to live at home. Poor job climates, high living expenses, or the simple hurdle of finding and maintaining their own place are all reasons some graduates decide to regroup in a safe haven residence before setting out on their own. This is a break from traditions of decades ago, where growing up meant getting out on your own, getting an education, job, marriage, and home on a very short time scale. But more challenging career requirements, climbing cost of living and housing, and other factors have lengthened the time frame of maturity for typical young adults. Staying close to home is also a prevailing trend. Last year, about half of UMR’s graduates reported their final plans to the Career Opportunities Center. Of those that reported jobs, 49% were jobs within the state lines of Missouri. These desires to stay close to home may have deeper motives. Parents of recent millennium generation kids have been much more involved in the lives of their offspring, hovering over their kids even while they are away at college. When this doesn’t create too much friction driving the family apart, it creates a closer and more trusting relationship where living at home into the ages of mid-twenties does not seem as strange. In fact, statistics from the most recent census show that 5% of women and 12% of men between the age of 25 and 34 still call their parents’ roof home. The benefits of not having to entirely take care of yourself and manage your own apartment can be very intriguing. From the numbers of those that reported their plans to the COC, it seems as if this is one area where UMR is different in an attractive way. “We encourage students to go somewhere other than home”, Lee-Ann Morton, COC director, said of advising students concerning post-graduation job selection. It is a great step in growing as a person and maturing. But even after being away at college, the family ties may be harder to break than for students of years past. “On average, millennial generation students talk to their parents three to six times a week”, said Morton. But concerning destination after leaving campus for good, Morton commented, “I don’t see a lot of our students moving [back] home.” The average UMR graduate, among all departments, receives between two and three full-time job offers. Many of these come from out of state, with locations in co-op programs alone available in 32 different states. Even in times where multiple offers and large bonuses do not abound for some job-seekers, recent conditions here have only been improving. Over 3700 interviews took place on campus last year, up over 10% from two years ago. Run the numbers, and that comes out to be more than one interview per person that attended the career fair. |
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