Question: I'm graduating with a 3.5 GPA and a degree in economics. Jobs are scarce. If parents will pick up the tab while kids actively search for employment or explore options like grad school, more power to them.
Question: My sister just turned 25 and lives at home with us. All she does is go to work, come home, eat and sleep. How can we get her out on her own, or to help around the house?
Question: Some parents follow your advice without thinking and without any advance warning or preparation. They suddenly announce to their 18-, 19- or 20-year-olds that they need to deal with the world on their own. The parents make too much money for their kids to qualify for financial aid, so students are dropping out of school to take dead-end jobs.
Answer: As these letters show, my columns on instilling financial independence in young adults who return home after college generated varied and heated reaction. I'd like to clarify a few points.
To reader No. 1, I am all for parents extending a helping hand to their kids — especially when the kids are hard workers facing a difficult job market. I have children of my own, and I would welcome them home after college if they needed that kind of assistance.
What my advice was trying to avoid is the situation described by reader No. 2: an adult child who becomes so comfortable living at home that he or she shows no inclination to leave — or to contribute to the household. Family members inevitably feel resentful.
And to reader No. 3, I would never advise a parent to throw a young adult into the world without warning or preparation. My philosophy is to begin teaching children how to manage money as soon as they're old enough not to put it in their mouth.
While parents may not have a legal obligation to pay for their children's higher education, they certainly have a moral obligation to help kids acquire the skills necessary to prosper in today's workplace. It's tough for kids to qualify for financial aid themselves, so if parents can't or won't foot the bill for college, they at least should help their children find an affordable school and advise them on how to acquire jobs or loans to pay for it.
Have a question about kids and finances for Dr. Tightwad? Write to Dr. T at 1729 H St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006. Or send the good doctor an e-mail message (and any other questions for this column) to jbodnar@kiplinger.com.