Sitting on the couch in a red Chinese robe, chest hair exposed, Chazz Reinhold is just living the dream. "Mom! The meatloaf," he shouts before throwing in an extra expletive. Living in a home decorated with furniture out of the 1970s with his muumuu-wearing mother, Chazz's main activity is crashing funerals. For the sake of argument, he does not have a job.
Wedding Crashers exploits this familiar portrait of the dependent adult living at home, but for many, moving back home to live with family is not the result of laziness or the inability to cook for oneself. Living at home can be pictured in the limiting terms of the childish low-life portrayed by Will Ferrell, but for many Boston College graduates, the stigma of living at home no longer applies.
Although there may be some Chazz-like situations out there, living at home has become a convenient alternative to living on one's own in the city.
Across the country, graduates are finding that moving back home has its benefits in a society where the cost of living is ever-increasing. In 2005, MonsterTrak.com reported that 60 percent of college graduates move back home with their parents, and the trend is on the rise.
John Roe, BC '07, works in New York City and lives 30 minutes outside of the city in the house his parents own. Instead of paying rent every month, he said his only financial worries are small expenses such as his cell phone bill.
"Financially it makes sense. It saves money," he said in a telephone interview.
Even more, living at home, in the ambiguous territory between financial independence and financial dependence, has its benefits. With limited fiscal responsibilities, the graduate who moves back home has room to self-indulge or save. Roe plans to attend the Clemson football game in South Carolina and will also be flying out to Tahoe for a skiing vacation later in the year. "It's a great time in life to do a lot of stuff," he said.
Besides the financial advantages of moving back home, the community aspect of living with one's family can provide graduates with the comforting support that is lost when living in a studio apartment in the city.
Like Roe, Cristina Vitiello, BC '07, shared a similar perspective. "I have a community basis. It's nice to have my mom and dad there. I have two of them there to ask advice," Vitiello said.
After graduation, Vitiello converted the jewelry business she started her sophomore year at BC into a full-time endeavor. She now lives at home with her family and also works out of her home. Her father, who also started his own business, is there to give her a business advice. Her mother supplies her with the daily advice and support that has allowed her business, Cristina V., to flourish.
"I have completely taken over our basement and have it filled with stones, materials, packaging and promotion items," Vitiello said. But even with the physical impositions she has made on her parents' house, she said she feels no pressure to move out and that her parents remain very supportive.
The New York Times reported that in 1960, roughly 70 percent of 30-year-olds had moved away from home, becoming financially independent, getting married and starting families.
By 2000, fewer than 40 percent of 30-year-olds had done the same.
For the baby boomers, the answer was clear: After school it was time to settle down and establish the adult routine that would direct their lives until retirement. Once adolescence was over, adulthood started.
The definition of a successful individual was clearly dictated by society. But a very different society has produced the generation pictured in movies like Knocked Up and television series like Entourage.
Twenty-somethings today delay marriage and delay financial independence, essentially delaying the formal definition of adulthood. Instead, they accept the advent of what the New York Times calls the Odyssey, that transitional period before adulthood in which improvisation flourishes as a result of the pressurized modern condition.
Getting married, signing a mortgage, and having children are not steps that most graduates see themselves taking soon after leaving BC. "I feel like most people from BC are in the same boat. It's basically college with more money and no classes," Roe said.
Although moving back home may not be the dream that most college students imagine for their post-BC life, the evolution of the modern condition has made it a practicality that many graduates consider.
"When I was a freshman, I imagined staying in Boston or moving to New York City," Vitiello said. But after graduation, moving back home was the convenient alternative that reality provided for her. "It was clear, it was the best decision for now," she said.
For Brian Matthews, BC '07, moving back home was a sacrifice he had to make for his dream job. Matthews works for the New York Mets in the corporate sales and services department.
Instead of heading to the Financial District, every morning his job takes him to a baseball stadium, something he particularly enjoys. He knew from the beginning that he wouldn't get the same salary as he would in finance, but it was a job he knew he would love.
"I feel like it was a decision I made to live at home. I chose a job I knew I would enjoy. It was kind of a sacrifice in the end," Matthews said.
Leaving the Heights can be a scary transition for many BC students, but moving back home can moderate the transition from student to employee. Matthews said he thinks that like a lot of BC graduates are moving back home after graduation. "You can figure everything out living at home and then eventually move out. I think a lot of people are just taking a year to save up money and become financially stable," Matthews said.
Roe admits that the transition from dorm life to life at home can be an adjustment.
"It was pretty hard and still kind of is. In college, you don't have to report to anyone. So that was kind of tough," he said.
Matthews felt that the loss of independence when moving back home was the hardest part. Despite his own struggle moving back into the jurisdiction of his parents, he admits that it has its advantages. "After work, it's nice to come home to a home-cooked meal," he said.
Even though baby-boomers may define adulthood differently, a majority support their children's move back home. Sixty-five percent of American baby-boomer parents surveyed by Del Webb would "be happy" to help their grown children if they financially needed to move back home. "I think my parents secretly enjoy the fact that I am home," Matthews said.
The move back home can be an adjustment, but it is one that most come out of intact. "It's been pretty convenient. I've survived," Matthews said.
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