(EVANSTON, Ill.) – Students are moving back home after college, and they aren’t embarrassed about it, opting to forgo accidentally bleaching their favorite shirt, constantly eating cold pizza and forking over rent.

Northwestern University alumnus Peter Duchan, Communication ’05, is currently living in Manhattan but spent a year at home in Connecticut, while commuting to work in New York.

“When I got home off the train — even though my family had already eaten — there was a plate with a whole meal,” Duchan said.

Experience, Inc., a company that provides career services to students and alumni, polled recent graduates across the nation. In its 2006 survey, the company found that 58 percent of college grads moved home after college and 32 percent stayed home for more than a year.

These students have been labeled the “Boomerang Generation,” because they leave home for a period of time and then return. The boomerangers have become so widespread that author Elina Furman wrote the book “Boomerang Nation: How to Survive Living With Your Parents … The Second Time Around.”

The number of graduates moving back home remains constant, but moving back home is becoming more socially acceptable, she said.

“It used to be the ‘boomerang in the basement,’ but they’re really coming out of the basement, if you will, and everyone is talking about it,” Furman said.

Some NU students are part of this trend.

“I wanted to make sure I’d be happy (in Manhattan),” Duchan said. “For me, it was the financial security that the first year of not living in the city provided, and I would recommend it.”

Financial security is one of the most popular reasons for moving back home after graduating.

“Society is so expensive. It’s helpful to save more money by staying at home and creating a psychological secure base,” said Dr. Wei-Jen Huang, assistant director for community relations at Counseling and Psychological Services.

Johanna Igel, Communication ’06, said she is lucky her family has an apartment in Manhattan.

“My friends from Long Island and New Jersey all got tiny, bug-filled, mice-infested apartments in Brooklyn,” she said. “They’re definitely living the life of the starving actor, and it’s definitely nice not to have to do that just yet. We’re doing the same things, but it just so happens that I have a more comfortable roof over my head.”

Current seniors said they have already begun thinking about their post-graduate plans.

“After being on my own for four years and then changing to moderately relying on my parents, it might be a little difficult,” said Emily Horbar, a Medill senior. But extra spending money and a stocked fridge are added bonuses she’s looking forward to as well.

Furman stressed that boomerangers are not the only people leaning on their parents for support.

“Most people I know who didn’t live at home still had a lot of financial help from their parents,” she said. “It’s not really fair to stigmatize boomerangers because they’re not the only ones getting help.”

Horbar agreed.

“A lot of people get jobs, and the job determines where you have to live, so their parents will help them,” she said.

Regardless, it’s important for college students to remember that living at home shouldn’t become permanent, Furman said.

“They always think I’m going to be out of here in two months, three months, six months — they’re always in denial,” Furman said. “‘I’m not living at home. I’m just passing through for the next 10 years.'”

Huang said he has hope for the boomerangers.

“College graduates demonstrated the ability to survive independently already.” he said. “They left home once. They can do it again.”