Recognition of the promotion of self-reliance as a prevailing purpose of higher education in the United States can be found in many college and university mission statements. Student independence and self-determination are also long-standing staples of theories of student development. Returning home to live with mom and dad is not a goal that educators typically envision for their graduates. Rather, it is expected that graduates will pursue a job placement away from their parents' home, enroll in graduate school, accept a temporary job in the area near their alma mater, or even travel. Yet as described in "USA Today" in February 2007 "some 18 million adults between the ages of 20 and 34 live with their parents. That's roughly a third of that age group." In this article, the author advises colleges and universities to consider whether their goals of promoting students' self-reliance are fully in sync with the reality of 21st-century life. He says the time has come for those responsible for cultivating student independence to examine exactly what that term means to students and to their parents, and to creatively consider new ways to bring about student independence in a method that better prepares them for life after college.