When Lori Fulton moved back home after her first year of college, her parents enforced her high school curfew of midnight and watched her every move.
“It was hell,” Fulton, 24, said. “I was expected to simply go to work and then come straight home.”
After graduation when she moved to her home in Burns, she said she had an overwhelming feeling of failure.
“Coming from a small town, everyone knew I had moved back home after school,” she said. “It was as if the whole town thought I didn’t succeed in college because I was back home.”
Like other college students, Fulton’s economic factors left her no choice but to move home. Even though hiring new graduates is up 11.2 percent from last year according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, many graduates are still having difficulty finding a steady source of income.
Senior comparative literature and journalism major Lisa Freeman, 22, said she has failed to find a job or internship in the entertainment and event management fields in the Northwest. After graduation this spring, she plans to move back home with her family in Vancouver, Wash.
“I don’t have a problem moving back home because it is purely for economical
reasons, and I really don’t have any major problems with my family,” Freeman said.
Freeman said her parents were not surprised she was moving home because they know how difficult the job market has been in her field.
“I don’t have to pay any type of rent as long as I am searching for a job,” she said.
Freeman said she does not dread moving back home because she is confident her parents will no longer place the rules and restrictions on her that she had in high school.
“As long as I am letting them know when I am going out, my parents allow me to do pretty much anything,” she said.
Elizabeth Holloway, 23, moved home to Lake Oswego after graduating this winter with a degree in architecture from the University.
Though Holloway briefly thought about graduate school or joining the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, “Finding a job was my first priority,” she said.
Holloway did not intensely search for a job while still in school because she was busy finishing her degree. She planned on moving back home for a few months while in college so she could search for a job.
Holloway has yet to find a job, which will inevitably prolong her stay at home, she said.
“As a woman in a mainly male-dominated profession, I feel like some firms are more reluctant to hire me than my male peers who have had little difficulty finding a job,” she said.
Though Holloway is hopeful of moving out after saving some money from her first few paychecks, she has enjoyed her time back at home.
“I really missed my mom’s cooking,” she said. “I make dinner and do laundry so I feel like I am helping out somehow.”
Holloway said the worst part of living at home is being bored.
“I am not really able to have my friends or boyfriend over late at night because of my parent’s schedule,” she said.
Holloway’s mother somewhat expected her daughter to move home after graduation.
“I thought she would move home temporarily until she was able to find a job and save up some money,” Ann Holloway said.
Ann Holloway has enjoyed having her daughter back at home.
“Though I loved being an empty nester because it was quieter and simpler, it has been nice to have Elizabeth help out with things around the house,” she said. “As long as she continues to help around the house and look for a job, I am more than willing to let my daughter live here without paying rent.”