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Survey: Most students are financially dependent on their parents
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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More than 60% of young people aged 19 to 22 receive financial support from their father and mother.
These research results were reported by experts from the Michigan Institute.
As it turns out, parents give their children an average of about $7,000 a year. This amount includes tuition fees, rent, and transportation.
The study is the first to use nationally representative data to calculate the financial support that fathers and mothers provide to their college-aged children and to analyze how the amount of support may vary across families and individuals.
The findings are based on 2,098 interviews conducted between 2005 and 2009 with students and their parents. The study was presented by Patrick Whiteman, Robert Shoney and Keith Robinson of the University of Texas at Austin at the annual conference of the Population Association of the United States in San Francisco.
Key findings include:
- approximately 42% reported that their parents help pay their bills, with the average annual financial support amounting to about $1,741;
- Almost 35% stated that their parents pay for their education at an educational institution ($10,147);
- approximately 23% receive transportation reimbursement from parents ($9,682);
- About 22% of students pay their rent with their parents ($3,937);
- 11% reported receiving a loan ($2,079) from their parents, and approximately 7% received cash gifts ($8,225)