Bailing Out The Kids


(Illustration by Mark Matcho for Newsweek)

"A Pennsylvania mother says that after her 23-year-old daughter took on $20,000 in loans to help finance a $160,000 undergraduate degree, the best job she could get last year paid less than $40,000, failing to cover rent, expenses and loan payments. In hopes of helping her gain entry to a higher-paying career, her parents picked up her loan payments, paid off $2,000 in credit-card debt and persuaded her to move back home, where she's preparing to apply for law school."

A lemming-like push to get your kid into college, without regard for the return on your (and their) investment, is resulting in helicopter parents being grounded by boomerang kids.