Being 18 back when our parents were kids meant you could walk into a job at Chrysler or some other place right out of high school, and it made you enough money to support yourself while you did whatever you wanted, whether that's going to school or not.

My dad got a job at an automotive factory, then in construction, then at a uranium mine, and all the while, these jobs made him enough money not only to sustain himself and save a lot of money, but he was also able to buy nice cars like Camaros, Mustangs, and Corvettes. This is all between the ages of 18-26. Then, with no post-secondary education, he ended up in a position as a real estate appraiser and has been set for life ever since. 35 years later, he now owns the business and everything.

That was back in the '70s, and it's just not the world we live in anymore. All the nice jobs that didn't require an expensive education are taken by the 50+ year olds who got them 35 years ago, and our generation is stuck in a massively inflated market making minimum wage at fast food restaurants right out of high school, while people our parents' age wonder, "What happened to this weak, dependant generation?"

Now, moving out at the same age your parents did is financial suicide in most cases. You might be able to scrape by making rent in some shit hole with a bunch of roommates, but don't even think about saving or investing or feeling financially comfortable.

Now, in most cases, you need a diploma or a degree to get any sort of real job that will allow you to be self sustaining, and they're so expensive that you either rely on your parents, or you take student loans and take on massive debt to the government for the next 25 years of your life.

All that said, it's hard for a lot of people our parents' age to understand, because they only know what they lived and don't realize how drastically things have changed for our generation. It's really not worth wasting your time arguing with them, because they just won't understand.

Our generation just has to adapt to the way things are now, and if you've got parents nice enough to house you while you get your education, then take advantage of it. It's a lot better to live with an old stigma than to commit financial suicide so old people don't make fun of you, lol.