Brewed Fresh Daily

Nathan Kelley, who graduated DePaul University in 1999, went to graduate school for a year. He then saw money being made in high-tech and joined a software startup in Chicago. When the company was bought by Accutel Inc. after six months, Kelley and five friends started up another software company � just as the tech bubble was bursting. His company soon shut down. "At that point, the bottomless pit of money had dried up," Kelley said. "When we went back to the well, it was dry." Kelley had no income, no health insurance and no way to pay living expenses � it was time to move in with his grandmother in Cleveland. For a humbling six months, Kelley searched for a job in consulting. When he finally found one and moved out, he cut corners wherever possible. "On any day, I could tell you the beer specials anywhere in the city," Kelley joked, adding, "I became a nicer person � that sense of invincibility disappeared." To survive the workplace now, many young people have had to start over on the bottom rung � not exactly the position many expected to be in five years after graduation. According to Alexandra Levit, a Northwestern University graduate who recently wrote the book "They Don't Teach Corporate in College," her age group has aspirations that are "way out of whack with reality." "They're very innovative, very entrepreneurial. ... There's a bit of a clash with managers, who are much more bureaucratic," she said. Kelley admitted that the last few years have been sobering. He now works at the Hospital Association in Cleveland, and is planning to make a down payment on a house soon. "It'd be nice to be sitting on a pile of cash right now," Kelley said. "But that'll happen eventually." Michael McCullough, a 1999 graduate of Appalachian State University, is also in the process of buying a house, but only after living with his parents for the past five years to survive pay cuts. It's a strategy Goodman said is common among today's young people. "There was no money to support living on my own," McCullough said. "I lived meagerly � didn't take on anything, didn't have credit cards." Home ownership remains out the question for many twentysomethings, though, especially those that live in big cities. Goodman noted that while mortgage rates are on the decline, down payments are often unmanageable for young people who haven't been working long enough to save.