What to Do When Your College Graduate Moves Home

If a college-graduate child moves back home, put the young adult on a budget to help him/her prepare for financial independence. Create rules that make it clear that the move home is temporary—which means charging rent and something for utilities, groceries and other services. Set deadlines for repayment of loans, and enforce them. Do not go into debt or damage your credit to help a child, and do not tap retirement funds to pay off college debt. What else to do: Understand that your child’s moving back home is not an indication that he or you have failed—about 80% of recent graduates move back in with their parents, and almost half get financial help from them.