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Why am I still living in my parents’ basement?

That’s what many recent college graduates are asking themselves as they move back home, strapped with a newly earned degree and, in many cases, tens of  thousands of dollars in loans. While college grads in the past found themselves entering the work force with new jobs, today’s youth are finding themselves coming up empty in the hunt for employment. 

At CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, on Feb. 10, a panel of young conservatives sought to answer the question: Why Am I Still Living in My Parents’ Basement? The panelists included Alex Schriver, national chairman of the College Republican National Committee; Abigail Alger, director of digital communications for the Leadership Institute; Paul Conway, president of Generation Opportunity; and Lisa Stickan, chairman of the Young Republican National Federation.

Together, they discussed why they believe President Obama’s policies are hurting young people, noting the current unemployment rate of today’s youth and the increasing amount of debt they are facing after graduating from college.

Today, Schriver said, 18 percent of youth are unemployed, a number that is more than twice the national average, and graduating student-loan debt has reached record-breaking highs of more than $22,000.

“When you graduate college,” Schriver said, “regardless of your own student loans, regardless of any other bills that you have, you’re also carrying massive burden of national debt, and we’re telling this administration and we’re telling members of Congress to simply not put it on our generation’s tab.” 

Many of today’s youth look forward to gaining more independence after they graduate from college, said Alger, but instead of becoming less dependent on their parents, they’re becoming more dependent on the government.

“The unfortunate news is that President Obama’s economic policies put us there and they’re likely to keep us there,” she said. 

Alger said Millennials face three major problems:

1.  There are no jobs;

2. The jobs that are available don’t pay as much;

3. They are losing money as costs related to Obama’s regulations go up. Because of a lack of jobs, she said, career starts are delayed not by months, but by years. And because careers are getting started later, today’s youth are losing tens of thousands of dollars.

 Alger noted that with the younger generation, there is a disconnect between trying to escape dependence on their parents and what they’re embracing as a generation -- more government distribution programs, more federal spending and more programs that are going to lead them into a perpetual state of dependence on the government.

“We think we’re getting a hand up out of the basement; we’re just getting moved over into another basement rewarding Uncle Sam,” she said.

Conway noted that 77 percent of today’s youth have or will delay a major life decision, whether it is the choice to buy a house, save for retirement or get married. And the lack of jobs after graduation acts as a catalyst for this delay.

“We need to stop vilifying people in America who create jobs,” he said.

While there is a struggle for today’s youth to find employment, many find themselves strapped with debt from loans once they leave the comfort of college.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama challenged universities to keep their tuition costs low. But the president said same thing two years ago, Schriver said, and tuition has continued to rise.

“When the government takes over the student loan part of it and says were going to regulate what you pay for student loans and what you pay for tuition, everything goes up,” he said.

Obama created new policies for student loan reform, which introduced average savings of $4 to $6 more each month, according to a study conducted by the Atlantic.  These savings, though, apply only to those making less than $40,000 each year.

“It’s a Band-Aid fix to a larger problem,” Schriver said.

While many of today’s youth continue to attend four-year colleges and universities, there is an increasing number that is opting to attend trade schools, Stickan said. 

“It’s a scary prognosis for the future,” she said. “I worry that over all, the fact might be that less young people are getting that higher education just because they’re afraid of the end result -- which is the debt that they might not be able to get back.”

In addition, the Obama administration has continued to tell young people that it is OK to be dependent on the government, and they will rely on the government for the most basic decisions, Stickan said. 

“The question I often get asked is, why are young people struggling to get out of the gate?

“The answer is simple,” she said: “President Obama’s failed economic policies. Period.”

The youth vote was instrumental in Obama’s election, the panel noted, and the administration has looked to “Obamacare” to garner the attention of youth for his re-election campaign.  Under the new health care law, children can remain on their parents’ plans until they are 26.

“They hail this as an effort to reach young voters and support young voters,” Schriver said. “But what they don’t understand is what young voters want is a job so they can get their own health insurance.”

The panel believes Obamacare is another method of control and dependence that the government will use, as it is the government that decides what plans are included and what procedures will be covered.

All agreed that Obama’s policies are hurting people, despite the appearance of promise they offer, and Schriver called on the 8 million new registered voters to create change. 

“These voters are watching Comedy Central,” he said. “They’re on Facebook, they’re on Twitter…we’re engaging young people online, where they are on campus, because they’re sitting there saying we’re not better off than we were 36 months ago…we want reform.”