As students graduated last spring, many may have fantasized about dream jobs and Manhattan lofts. Instead, about half ended up back in their high school bedrooms, according to a recent CBS article.

The article stated that 50 percent of spring 2006 graduates moved back home and 44 percent of them are still there. However, the negative stigma that used to be associated with moving back home is changing -- or at least, that's what Elina Furman hopes.

Furman, who wrote "Boomerang Nation: How to Survive Living with Your Parents ... The Second Time Around," said she was the first to really address this social phenomenon.

She said this is not a problem at all and that home provides a sense of comfort and security. As long as it does not become an emotional crutch, it could really benefit the student and parent, she said.

"Students want to do more, they want to travel the world and sometimes don't want that desk job just yet," Furman said.

And some students said they are hoping to do just that.

"I'm hoping to backpack through Europe and then go to grad school," Lisa DeLosso (senior-art history and art education) said.

Erin Sharp, a health and human development professor, attributed the trend to society's view of adolescence.

"Society's view of adolescence has changed, for the period in which they take on responsibility is expanding," she said. "Because adolescents don't have to be adults, families don't give them independence, and adolescents don't seek it."

She said in American culture, young adults are not treated or seen as adults until the age of 25.

"I have a twin sister who moved back home and hates it. It was convenient, she didn't get into grad school and my parents wanted her home," DeLosso said. "There were a lot of different feelings and emotions. In social terms, it was difficult for her to go out and drink and come back to our parents. It was just a lot of awkwardness."

However, her sister now appreciates their parents more, she added.

Furman said she blames the cost of living as a factor to the "boomerang" effect. She said students want to enter glamorous fields like advertising and media in New York City but start off at intern positions.

She said entry-level positions start off at $24,000, which is what it was in the 1980s. However, the cost of living has quadrupled since then, she said. Therefore, she said students who live at home are no less successful than those who live in New York City in an apartment funded by their parents. Many students said they are moving back home for financial reasons until they can save enough money to move out on their own.

"I'll be working and living at home for a year," Jacqueline Caliente (senior-accounting) said. "First few years of working are going to be tough."

Furman wants people to know that this generation is not lazy.

"We're aware of the economic responsibilities, and that's why students are moving back home, we're not at all a slacker generation," she said.

One reason Furman said she wrote the book was to say students should not feel inadequate for moving back home. Some students at Penn State said they do not.

Ryan Atkinson (senior-history) said he does not feel like a "loser" moving back home and, just like the statistics, about half of his friends plan to do the same.