A survey conducted by Merrill Lynch/Age Wave found that 70% of adults ages 18 to 34 received financial support from their parents in the last year. USA Today reports that more than half of those adults are in their early 30s.

The report says that parents are helping their adult children pay for things like cellphone service plans, groceries and even rent or mortgage payments.

“Millennials are doing to their parents to make up that difference between their monthly income and their monthly expenses,” says Dan Geltrude, author of “Positive Financial Karma.”

Geltrude says that credit card and student loan debts are to blame. He says that paying for higher education can make some adults unstable financially later in life.

“If you’re going to go to a very expensive private university, you’re going to be taking on an extraordinary amount of debt,” Geltrude says. “[Go] to a community college, followed by a state university where you can keep those costs of college down.”

Geltrude says that the key is budgeting money successfully.

“You really need to take a look at how much money is coming in, versus how much money is going out,” he says.

Age Wave found that young adults are saddled with about $36,000 in student loan debt right after they graduate.

The survey also found that three-quarters of those questioned say that financial independence from their parents is the measure of reaching adulthood.