Face-Off: Absence makes the heart fonder

With graduation right around the corner, seniors have started their scramble to figure out the question of “What comes next?” In addition, many are also starting their search for where they are going to live. After four years of living on your own — learning how to take care of yourself and establishing a routine — the benefits of keeping that independence outweigh moving back home.
This generation has been nicknamed the “boomerang generation” because of our reputation to return home after graduation. According to Time magazine, 85 percent of recent graduates move back home. Doing so, though, limits the recent grad, whereas moving out and finding an apartment to call your own is a whole new adventure. With college behind you and a new career on the horizon, finding a new home follows the idea of independence that college had.
While it seems the biggest drawback to not staying at home is affordability, finding a new place also helps to teach life skills, such as developing a healthy diet, creating routines, maintaining a monthly budget that encompasses rent, groceries, etc. Moving out becomes much more financially realistic with a roommate, of course.
Another advantage to moving out is there is no loss of privacy, and there is the freedom to figure out where life can go. In an article on huffingtonpost.com, entitled “Recent Graduates Not only Move Back Home, But Stay There,” Ashley Moore, a Pace University graduate, explains the struggle of staying home, saying parents might “regress” and treat you like you’re in high school.
The opportunities are endless with a fresh start and a new address. There is an added drive to work harder, to push for a promotion and strive towards a dream or goal. There is strong motivation to move forward in a career and in the growing-up process.
Author Grant Cordone, in an article on sheknows.com, emphasizes that moving back home is negative, saying “Everybody thinks this is the ‘solution’ but it really only brings problems.”
So, while home does come without rent and with home-cooked meals, it does not enforce the real-life skills necessary to advance further in a career. It can be nice to live with Mom and Dad for a little while longer, but no matter the age, when you make the break, they’ll always be your parents, and they will always be there for you, regardless of whether the address is home or elsewhere. There’s so much else to experience in the world; all it takes is a different viewpoint — a new address.

–Tara Delorenzo
Senior English writing major

Printed in the 04/22/15 issue.