Blame doting parents for grad's joblessness.

• Position: Your Life

The biggest obstacle to landing a job for this year's class of an estimated 1,300,000 spring college graduates may be their parents. Despite the significant financial strain of funding a four-year college education, many parents choose to prolong the burden by allowing their children to return home for an indefinite period. Such an arrangement is likely to lengthen the child's search for employment by squelching his or her incentive to find work, contends John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of the international outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., Chicago.

He suggests that the solution may be found in what he calls a Post-Graduation Residential Limitation Contract, which places a time frame on a graduate's stay at home. "Asking a son or daughter to sign such a contract may seem harsh, but tough love is sometimes the only way to spur these young people to take action.

"The alternative to such a contract, particularly for otherwise empty-nester parents, might be having a permanent roommate. More graduates are going to be leaving college this year without a job, and many will [go] to their parents for shelter, food, and money While parents are not likely to turn their children away, they should set a time limit on their generosity."

There are no exact figures on the number of children returning to live at home after college, but it is likely growing due to the fact that many graduates are leaving school jobless, swamped with student loans and credit card debt that reach into the tens of thousands. The average amount of education-related debt carried by graduates has now climbed to $27,600, three-and-one-half times the amount 10 years ago, according to student loan company Nellie Mae.

Additionally, the exceptionally tight job market is making it more difficult for students to find...