Spring Break
High rents limit recent college graduates
Kathleen Lynn - The Record
Issue date: 6/6/08 Section: News
HACKENSACK, N.J. - It's college graduation season, and twentysomethings are on the move.
Whether they're headed to jobs or graduate school, if they're staying in the area around New York City, they are likely to face some compromises on housing.
The lucky ones have good jobs and the wherewithal to rent apartments. But to afford a place in one of the priciest housing markets in the nation, they might have to live with roommates or accept a longer commute than they'd like.
"Finding an affordable one-bedroom is really difficult," said Sunny Kancherla, founder of a Newark, N.J.-based apartment-hunting Web site called GardenStateApartments.com. In North Jersey, one-bedroom apartments generally start at $800 to $1,200, he said.
Many new grads who can't afford that will find themselves back at home, pushing aside the stuffed animals on their old beds or taking up residence in the basement.
"Given where we are in the country, one of the most expensive housing markets, more and more young people are graduating, they're getting jobs, but living at home because they can't afford to be on their own," said Richard White, head of the career office at Rutgers University.
New grads who don't want to return to Mom's Hotel have to be flexible to get living arrangements they can afford.
Constance Coleman, 23, is graduating from William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., with a degree in marketing and has a job lined up at Pearson, the Upper Saddle River, N.J.-based publishing company.
She had hoped to live nearby to keep her commute short, but found most of the apartments in northern Bergen County, N.J., outside her price range. She has found a one-bedroom place on the Newark/Bloomfield border for $1,100 a month, including utilities.
"It's a nice area; it's something I would feel safe in," she said. And she decided she can live with the half-hour commute.
She was open to living with roommates, but most of her college friends plan to move back in with their parents and try to save money to buy a condo in a few years. She didn't want to do that.
Whether they're headed to jobs or graduate school, if they're staying in the area around New York City, they are likely to face some compromises on housing.
The lucky ones have good jobs and the wherewithal to rent apartments. But to afford a place in one of the priciest housing markets in the nation, they might have to live with roommates or accept a longer commute than they'd like.
"Finding an affordable one-bedroom is really difficult," said Sunny Kancherla, founder of a Newark, N.J.-based apartment-hunting Web site called GardenStateApartments.com. In North Jersey, one-bedroom apartments generally start at $800 to $1,200, he said.
Many new grads who can't afford that will find themselves back at home, pushing aside the stuffed animals on their old beds or taking up residence in the basement.
"Given where we are in the country, one of the most expensive housing markets, more and more young people are graduating, they're getting jobs, but living at home because they can't afford to be on their own," said Richard White, head of the career office at Rutgers University.
New grads who don't want to return to Mom's Hotel have to be flexible to get living arrangements they can afford.
Constance Coleman, 23, is graduating from William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., with a degree in marketing and has a job lined up at Pearson, the Upper Saddle River, N.J.-based publishing company.
She had hoped to live nearby to keep her commute short, but found most of the apartments in northern Bergen County, N.J., outside her price range. She has found a one-bedroom place on the Newark/Bloomfield border for $1,100 a month, including utilities.
"It's a nice area; it's something I would feel safe in," she said. And she decided she can live with the half-hour commute.
She was open to living with roommates, but most of her college friends plan to move back in with their parents and try to save money to buy a condo in a few years. She didn't want to do that.
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