When Rhiannon Cizon left Ball State University, she imagined finding a well-paying job and living an independent lifestyle suitable to a college grad.
The 2007 graduate earned bachelor's degrees in fashion design and public history, and soon thereafter landed an internship working as a tour guide in New York City.
Following her internship, she couldn't find work and soon moved back in with her parents in her Northwestern Indiana hometown of Highland.
"Moving back home was not my first option," Cizon said. "I made fun of those people when I was in high school, and now I have become [one of them]."
As the May 3 graduation date approaches, many Ball State seniors are facing the same dilemma. They're ready to hit the real world, but they're also staring down college loan debts and increased housing costs.
In 2006, the entry-level job Web site collegegrad.com conducted a survey of 2,400 graduates nationwide and found that two-thirds of them moved back home after they finish school.
Cizon, like many other graduates, cites loan debt as a key reason for her situation.
She owes more than $35,000 to the federal government and Sallie Mae, the nation's largest student loan company. She pays more than $350 per month on the loans, and even though she pays no rent, the wage she earns as a hotel clerk is barely enough for her to keep up.
"My bills are not numerous, but they're not cheap," she said.
Student debt increases
Between 1993 and 2004, undergraduate debt increased 58 percent to $19,200 per student, and the number of students taking out loans jumped from 44 percent to 64 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
"[Student loan debt] is clearly a new burden on the workforce that wasn't there 20 or 30 years ago," said Luke Swarthout, adviser for higher education at U.S. Public Interest Research Groups. "It will impact the choices that graduates make about careers and where they're able to live and when they're able to make other investments."
The loan debt increase at Ball State reflects national statistics. 2007 graduates who took out loans owed an average $19,827 in personal loans, and those who took out parent loans as well owed $30,756. Loan debt at Ball State has increased about five percent per year for the past five years, said Robert Zellers, director of Scholarships and Financial Aid.
The increase in student debt has kept many college graduates from gaining a strong financial foothold.
Zellers believes the rise in debt is due heavily to the private loan industry, which has stepped up its marketing efforts in recent years.
The promise of quick cash and payments differed until graduation is attractive to many students.
"I'm not sure whether [students] are borrowing what they need [for school] or to suit their lifestyle," he said.
State and federal cutbacks in student aid also have contributed to student debt.
"Higher education is subject to the boom and bust of state finances," Swarthout said, adding that rumors of a looming recession have many states scrambling to make budget cuts.
And employer salaries don't usually reflect the drain student debt can be on the pocketbooks of employees, Swarthout said.
Increased housing costs could also be a factor in students returning home, Swarthout said. Recent Indiana property tax increases have driven rent prices up throughout the state.
Making the transition work
Jill Baker faced high living expenses when she graduated in May with a bachelor's degree in visual arts education.
Within two months of finishing school, she landed a teaching job at an elementary school near her hometown of La Porte. Baker has student loan payments of about $100 a month, and she needed to buy a new car for her commute, so she decided to move back in with her parents to cut living expenses.
Jill's mother, Cynthia Baker, said she was supportive of the decision.
"It gives her a chance to stay home and save some money," Cynthia Baker said.
Jill Baker plans to spend about another year at home before finding her own place. The living situation has given her stability and let her get ahead on her bills, she said.
Still, she admitted the move might not work as well for all college graduates.
"For me, it's worked out, but it depends on your relationships with your family," she said.
Jill Baker contributes more to household chores than she did in high school, but she said she still has a comfortable level of independence.
"I have my own job, and I'm treated like an adult," she said.
Jill Baker had early success in her job hunt, but many graduates don't. Recent buzz about lost jobs and a coming recession have those looking for work worried.
Misleading information
Michael Hicks, director of business research at Ball State, thinks job applicants shouldn't heed the hype. He attributes much of the news of a poor job market to politics.
"It's an election year," he said. "What you don't want to do if you're a candidate is to run a campaign that says 'The economy is doing great and I can't do a thing about it.' Campaigns like to put out all the bad news because it gives them something to talk about."
The national unemployment rate, which is at 5.1 percent, is almost as low as it's ever been, Hicks said.
The problem may be more related to the kinds of jobs available, he said. Fields that are booming, such as financial services, health care and computer technology, sometimes require advanced degrees and experience.
"This would perhaps induce people to go to graduate school," he said.
Graduates also must be open to working in a variety of fields and willing to move to where the jobs they want are available, Hicks said.
Cizon has had difficulty finding a job largely because of the specialized nature of her degrees.
"I may never get a job in those fields, so I have to be flexible," she said. "Every few weeks I send out between three and seven resumes. Unfortunately it's hard to find jobs in [public history and fashion design] without experience."
Cizon's latest application was to be a tour guide for the international company Diamond Tours. She said she's hopeful about the opportunity but doesn't know if she'll get the job - or how long it will take her to find work that will ensure her independence.
"I have no clue. I hope it doesn't take much longer," she said.
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