CONTACTS: Phil DiIanni (Money): 212.522.6282 or Michael Brenner (ICR): 484-840-4300

MONEY MAGAZINE/ICR POLL: AMERICANS TO COLLEGE GRADS: PAY UP!

Americans want grads that return to the nest charged rent, to live at home one year tops.

 

NEW YORK, NY [April 6, 2006] According to a recent Money Magazine/ICR poll, the majority of Americans (56%) feel parents of recent college graduates should charge rent of their children who decide to move back home after graduation. How long should mom and dad expect to collect? The poll, which surveyed 1,010 Americans, found three-in-five Americans (60%) feel up to one year is a reasonable amount of time for a recent college grad to move home and live with their parents before finding a place of their own. Up to six months was the median timeframe Americans give for graduates to live at home.

 

However, Americans living in the West (23%), men (22%), and those with only a high school degree or less (21%) were less likely to sympathize, citing recent graduates should not move back home at all. Americans who are themselves college graduates (87%), women (85%), and those with children in their household (84% with children<18) disagreed, indicating any amount of time is suitable. Other interesting facts:

 

         Southerners want faster turnaround, as more (14%) felt one month or less was an appropriate amount of time for recent graduate to live at home before moving out on their own (vs. 3% Northeast).

         Conversely, Northeasterners give college grads the longest timeframe, citing 16 months on average is reasonable.

         Americans ages 35-44 were more likely to feel up to one year or longer is acceptable than their older counterparts (51% vs. 30% ages 65+).

         Just less than one-in-ten Americans (7%) think college graduates should move home indefinitely after graduation.

 

ABOUT THE POLL

The Money/ICR poll was conducted by telephone with a nationally representative sample of 1,010 Americans from March 15th  19th, 2006. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.08 percentage points.

The poll was conducted using ICRs telephone omnibus survey of adults age 18 and over. ICR is one of the nation's leading market and opinion research firms and is headquartered in Media, PA. For more information on this methodology please go to: http://www.icrsurvey.com.

MONEY, published by Time Inc., is the nations largest financial publication with a circulation of 1.9 million and a total readership over 7 million. 

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