Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High • Hacker News Board

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

#241

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:38 PM UTC

ebbv wrote: post #229

ChicagoBoy11 wrote: post #221

As a foreigner living in the U.S., I have to admit this obsession with leaving your parents house kinda baffles me. I'm from Brazil, and despite nearing my thirties, back home the majority of my friends live with their parents and it is hardly seen as a big deal. I think a big driver of this shift is the fact that in the U.S. it is extremely common for one to leave for college, whereas in Brazil literally 100% of my…

Speaking for myself, growing up in the US I couldn't wait to move out of my parents' house and live on my own. My friends were the same way. The reasons having my own place was appealing to me really boil down to independence. Being able to choose where I live, being able to decide my own priorities, not dealing with them being around and pestering me, having peace and quiet when I want it and being able to blast my…

[deleted]

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

#242

Post by epalmer » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:39 PM UTC

hyperliner wrote: post #226

epalmer wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a little more complicated and it is not as bad as it sounds for her. Undergraduate degree in sociology and a minor in anthropology. BA in sociology is not very employable but is the most common undergraduate degree for librarians. Once the affordable care act (ObamaCare) was made into law the library (local public library) started making most non-librarian jobs part time so they don't have to provide health ins…

Hey, one recommendation (assuming she wants something different; I hope I am not coming across as pretentious): Get an MBA. It worked for a relative of mine: she went from Liberal Arts to Director of Marketing for a tech firm. Depending on where you live, an MBA may take her into a completely different direction. Good luck but it does not seem like any of you all in your family need it.

All suggestions are accepted. She so wants to be a librarian so am MLS is it. I have a friend that is getting a BS in Mechanical Engineering this year. Then next year a ME in Engineering Management. His plan is then to get an MBA.

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

#243

Post by marcosdumay » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:40 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #72

ap22213 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was surprising: "Among Gen Xers who have exceeded their parents’ income, those with college degrees are less likely to surpass their parents’ wealth, mostly due to student loan debt."

Gen X here, just turned 40. If you compare how I'm doing with how my parents (who were solidly middle class) were doing, it's not even close. At 40, they had multiple homes, were secure in their savings and retirement through generous pensions, and practically debt free. This was on school teachers' salaries! Me? Student loan debt set me back years, crippling housing costs, and a crappy 401(k) that is probably worth…

> All the value captured through productivity increases is being captured by shareholders and asset owners now rather than the working class.

That's how living in a poor country feels. You still have good enough institutions and human capital to turn things around, but if you wait for too long, those will be gone.

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

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Post by raverbashing » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:40 PM UTC

epalmer wrote: post #174

I have two girls, 24 and 18 years old. Both live at home right now. The 24 year old graduated from a selective private liberal arts college in 2015 and is working part time in a library. She does not qualify for health insurance or many other benefits. She does not make enough to live on her own. She is also in graduate school online for a Master of Library Science (MLS). She wants to be a librarian and you pretty mu…

I'm sorry, I can't defend being willingly going into a limited career path.

And this is not simply "humanities pay less". There are a lot of "different" professions that can evolve and become good (high-paying) positions. Even librarian studies can go to become an archivist, managing some private collection, etc.

But requiring an overpriced Master degree for a librarian position IS A SCAM. And getting yourself into a romanticized position inside a clique is not a good career movement.

People moving to LA and waiting tables until they get a movie part looks like a more viable career path than that

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

#245

Post by rm_-rf_slash » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:40 PM UTC

gravypod wrote: post #235

epalmer wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Opinion Only: If you are going to an Ivy League school you are paying for the network / brand. If you are going to a lesser tier selective school you are paying for outcomes. But the outcomes, I believe, are starting to lag the price. At the school I work for about 65% of the students get some financial aid and we are need blind and meet 100% of demonstrated need. They meet need with grants (think scholarships) an…

What are the selling points on a societal level. Why is the government, and by extention you and me, supporting liberal arts degrees that will do little to support economic growth? I've never head an argument made against this question.

Our society is simply misguided in conflating education with employment. It is good for society as a whole to be educated, to understand history and science and literature, let alone practical skills such as cooking, filing taxes, and applying for a mortgage.

The problem is that we treat colleges as "skill mills," where we expect to go in, like raw materials into a machine, and emerge as an employable middle-class worker. Not all degrees or programs are suited for employment. Some colleges alleviate the problem somewhat by requiring paid co-ops as a part of a degree, but that is only one side of the problem.

Time was that the employer would teach the job skills on the job. There was an expectation of trust and loyalty on both sides which agreed that as long as the employee stuck with the employer, the employer would train and protect the employee.

This model has been successfully replicated time and time again across the world, from the guilds of the Middle Ages, to the salaryman culture of modern Japan.

College isn't everything.

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

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Post by ratacat » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:41 PM UTC

DudeNet wrote: post #186

pavel_lishin wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the backup life plan that a librarian son would be ineligible for?

More unrealistic than ineligible: being a housewife.

I think I know more house husbands than house wives.

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

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Post by [deleted] » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:42 PM UTC

rhapsodic wrote: post #187

lonesword wrote: post #107

23 year old Indian developer here. The concept of 'moving out' of your parents home is baffling for most of us. I now live in a different city and I share a decent apartment with friends. I can afford to live alone in the apartment I now live in - the rent is 30% of my monthly income and the apartment is 15 minutes away from where I work - but living alone would be just awful. So I'm now paying 11% of my income for r…

> There's one big trade off with the whole set up though - no sex till you get married ;) To a spouse chosen by your parents, correct?

[deleted]

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

#248

Post by rm_-rf_slash » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:43 PM UTC

jogjayr wrote: post #238

gravypod wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the selling points on a societal level. Why is the government, and by extention you and me, supporting liberal arts degrees that will do little to support economic growth? I've never head an argument made against this question.

> Why is the government, and by extention you and me, supporting liberal arts degrees that will do little to support economic growth? As a taxpayer, I'm happy to support liberal arts even if it doesn't lead to economic growth. But you can't convince me that it should cost $200k to get a degree in it; that's just bananas. There's no way it costs that much to provide that service (even with a healthy profit margin on t…

Credit-hour was originally conceived for the purpose of quantifying appropriate faculty compensation. It was tacked on to the student side - particularly regarding tuition - as a somewhat lazy afterthought.

College usually meant everybody would study the same subjects. The specialization of degrees is a relatively new innovation by way of 19th century German institutions adapting to industrialization.

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

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Post by ryandrake » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:45 PM UTC

flukus wrote: post #80

ryandrake wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't worry. I commute 4 hours a day. You get used to it. You have to live where you can afford, man.

At 4 hours a day it's time to look at what else you can cut, like house/apartment size.

It's a tradeoff I gladly make in order to not have to live in a shoebox.

Re: Percentage of Young Americans Living with Parents Rises to 75-Year High

#250

Post by jogjayr » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:45 PM UTC

rhapsodic wrote: post #187

lonesword wrote: post #107

23 year old Indian developer here. The concept of 'moving out' of your parents home is baffling for most of us. I now live in a different city and I share a decent apartment with friends. I can afford to live alone in the apartment I now live in - the rent is 30% of my monthly income and the apartment is 15 minutes away from where I work - but living alone would be just awful. So I'm now paying 11% of my income for r…

> There's one big trade off with the whole set up though - no sex till you get married ;) To a spouse chosen by your parents, correct?

Not necessarily. Especially in the big cities and among the wealthier or more educated (i.e. Indians you're likely to encounter on HN). I don't have statistics on hand but "love" marriages constitute a non-trivial percentage of marriages in those areas and social circles.

Even in arranged marriages in the big cities both parties usually have some veto power; parents don't (usually) just unilaterally say "You're marrying him/her and that's that" because that's not a happy start to any marriage. The guy or girl is shown pictures and basic info (height, education, job etc.) about potential candidates from a shortlist (which parents get from a marriage bureau) and they pick out a few they might be interested in. It's pretty much a stale joke by now that any unmarried Indian engineer working abroad is going to be bombarded with pictures of girls by his parents when he visits India.

The guy or girl might meet a few different potential partners before making a decision. It often runs like parental-supervised dating (think of the scene in The Godfather, with the grandmothers following a few paces behind Michael Corleone and the Sicilian woman he's courting). The couple can get to know each other reasonably well before the wedding if the engagement is a few months long.

In the rural areas (i.e. most of the country) traditional arranged marriages probably still dominate though. Even there, the winds of change are a-blowin'.