After she graduated from college, Jenny Moulton, now 27 and of Auburn, moved back into her parents' house in Raymond to save money.

And loved it.

Now 33, David Gendron has been living with his family for several years.

Their families aren't unusual. Nor do Gendron or Moulton represent some sort of "failure to launch."

They're part of a sizable population of young adults who graduate from college (or not) and move back home, popularly called "boomerangers."

And they are, according to recently released survey results from MonsterTRAK.com, still coming home in droves. "While last year's survey revealed that only 22 percent of 2007 graduates expected to move home for more than six months, 43 percent (of all the recent grads polled) extended their stay and have yet to leave - primarily due to limited financial resources," said the survey.

Just under half of the not-yet-graduated students polled said they planned to move home, the survey said, adding that concerns about finances - particularly school loans - were a factor in their decisions.

Moulton and Gendron know all about that. Moulton at first moved back home during her last semester in college. "And then it just made sense to stay home," she said last week. "It seems like forever ago," she recalled. "I had a few college loans to pay, and Mom and Dad didn't mind."

But money wasn't the only carrot. "I didn't have roommates, and I didn't know anyone around (here) anymore," she said. "So (living alone) would have been hard."

It helped that Moulton enjoys her parents' company. "My parents are my favorite people," she said. "They're fun. They just like to do the same things I do." In fact, she said, Moulton still visits them once a week.

Her father, Kevin Moulton, has similarly rosy recollections of the year-and-a-half period of time.

"It was very nice having her around," he said last week. "Just to have her to do things with - we like to ski in the winter, and we like to water-ski."

But don't go thinking it was utopian. Moulton moved home for real-life reasons, her dad recalls. "I think it's harder now for kids getting out of college. I think it's a little more expensive now. And it seemed like, I know she had a job fairly soon, but for a lot of her friends it took a while to find a job. And loans. That certainly didn't help." Her father doesn't recall anything tough about her stint back home, but she does.

"Going from four years of living away to being home for about a year and a half, it started to feel a little ... um ... I was getting on their nerves and vice versa. Because it was their home, but I was still a grownup."

She continued, "Sometimes you don't put your dishes in the dishwasher, or you forget to take your laundry out of the drier. Little things that I now bug my fiancee about. I was still at that age where I thought I knew everything."

Gendron has moved home twice in the past 10 years. The first was for just over two months, immediately after college. "And then I landed a job that moved me to New Hampshire," he says. "I was there for five years."

He moved back to Maine to begin working for the family business, Big G Heating Fuel, in Greene. "I moved back into the family house. I was in my old bedroom, working on an addition (to the house)," he said last week.

"But the downsides were none. I haven't moved out yet, technically."

Now he lives in an addition with its own entrance, but he's still in the family home. He doesn't pay rent, exactly, but that's because he works for the family business, he said. "My paycheck includes room and board, instead of swapping money back and forth."

As for upsides? "Mom would help me with my laundry. Actually, she still helps me, if I ask her. And just the cost savings - cooking for four or cooking for two, there's no big difference." Not that Gendron doesn't do his fair share. "I take care of the pool, around the yard. It's a community affair. Everybody just helps each other out - it's a huge old farmhouse. I like the communal living." That, and the company. "I have drinks once a week with 'em," he says, explaining that he enjoys hanging out with his parents.

Elina Furman, author of "Boomerang Nation" (http://www.boomerangnation.com), lived with her mother and sister until she was 30 - and like Gendron and Moulton, enjoyed it.

In fact, the enjoyment might be the biggest downfall of boomeranging, she suggested. "If you have a parent who you get along with really well, it's one of the biggest drawbacks. You're not incentivized to move out if you have a great friend and parent always there for you. So for me, it was really hard to move out," she said.

That said, when she gives tips to grads contemplating moving back in with mom and dad, setting a move-out date is the first thing Furman suggests.

Thinking about becoming a boomeranger? Already one? Never fear. There's nothing wrong with you. You're not failing. Experts say you're just taking the next logical step in your path to adulthood. But you want to be sure you stay on the path and don't actually become complacent and regress, and wind up staying for years with nothing to show for it but a stalled career and no personal life. Folks who have been there sound off with some advice:

1. "Just make sure that your parents are really OK with it," suggests Jenny Moulton of Auburn, who lived with her parents for a year and a half. "It would probably be pretty miserable if they weren't OK with you moving home."

2. Next, set a move-out deadline. "If you go in thinking 'I'll only be there x months,' and don't set a hard date ... it's very easy to go in and then find yourself sidetracked ... because you have all your needs taken care of," says Elina Furman, author of "Boomerang Nation." This is also helpful for parents, she said. "Some are happy (when the chicks return to the nest), but others are not that thrilled - they feel that they have failed in some way." A move-out date can give everyone a sense of comfort, she said.

3. Furman suggests making a grown-up place for yourself. "Clean out and transform your childhood bedroom," she says. "Even if you're only there a couple months, it's very important to eliminate traces (of childhood). That's the last thing you need, to feel like you're regressing. That can make you much more depressed, and less likely to succeed."

4. Contribute financially. "Offer to pay for things," Moulton suggests. "My parents insisted that I didn't, but I still asked. Even if it's just grocery shopping or helping to pay the electricity bill. Especially now that times seem to be getting harder. There'd probably be less tension between you and your parents if you offer to help." Furman agrees, and adds that it's not just for your parents' good. "Make sure you pay some rent, even if it's just $50 or $100 a month. It really gives you a sense of respect, and it forces your parents to treat you as an adult." It'll help you feel more like a contributing family member to actually contribute, and less like a parasite, Furman says.

5. One of the biggest boomeranger pitfall is wasting your money, Furman says. You come home to pay off college loans, and wind up spending it on fun stuff because you can. "Just remember the money you're making should be going straight to your rainy day fund," she says.

6. "Another trap," Furman recalls, "is the regression trap. You don't want to just fall into the lazy trap." It's easy to put off working until you've got that perfect job if you've got parents footing the bill. "You can still work," Furman says. Even if it's not the perfect thing. "(Get) a survival job, let's say. Just because you're looking for the ideal job you want doesn't mean you can't making a living in the meantime."

7. Help out around the house. This is for both your benefit and your parents. It makes parents much more amenable to your being there, says Jennifer Moulton's father, Kevin. And taking responsibility for a real share of household chores will make moving out that much easier when it's time, Furman says. "I think when you finally move out the biggest transition is going to be adjusting to doing everything yourself again. ... Don't get used to anything. Help out with whatever you can with your parents' household."

8. Last but not least? Appreciate them. David Gendron, who, at 33 still lives with his parents - albeit in a separate apartment - in Greene, says he thinks the arrangement works so well at his house largely because of his parents' attitudes. "At 15-16, my parents said 'Listen: At this point you have a lot of choices to make out there. We are now your advisory board. You can come to us for advice, share anything. We'll help you out as best we can,'" he recalls. "That's always been the feeling that's been there. And it hasn't changed."