Jessica Barney, 20, starts off her day by waking up next to the man she loves in an apartment they share. The accounting junior spends almost all of her time with this man, whom she met as a sophomore and fell in love with during a year of dating. They each are full-time students and work during the week; together, they go out on the weekends with their friends. "We do the same exact thing that other kids our age are doing," Barney says.
The only difference between this couple and the thousands of others at ASU? "We get tax benefits," Barney says with a laugh.
Barney and her husband, Benjamin Barney, are married - and still in college. The average age for marriage has steadily been increasing, according to the U.S. Census, but young marriages still occur on college campuses across the country.
Shows like MTV's new "Engaged & Underage" give special attention to young couples getting hitched. A 2004 Cosmopolitan survey stated that one out of three students on a large college campus could name at least one young couple planning to tie the knot.
Studies suggest that a young couple's happiness may be short-lived, however. The Center for Law and Social Policy reports that, on average, young brides have less schooling, less independence and less life and work experience than girls who marry later.
Young marriages are also up to three times more likely to end in divorce, according to research done by Rutgers University sociology professor David Popenoe. These studies add to the common perception that couples who get engaged or married in college are simply too young.
Jessica Barney spent time alone and lived in the residence halls before getting engaged to avoid the feeling that she might miss out once she was married. "I definitely think you should experience as much as you can [before marriage]," she says.
That doesn't mean her and her husband's social lives are lacking. "We don't party as much as we did, but a lot of people think that once you get married, you're going to stop experiencing things," Barney says. "You still [experience things]. You still have fun."
But not all ASU couples are rushing to the aisle. Pre-med sophomore Abbey Sutkiewicz says that although she and her boyfriend of more than three years joke about marriage, she is nowhere close to getting married.
"It may sound bad, but it's still 'me first,'" Sutkiewicz says. "When I really think about marriage, it's like, 'Oh my God, I'm 20 years old. Let's keep a ring off this finger for a while!'"
Barney says that she also once shared the idea that college students are too young to marry, but her relationship with Benjamin altered her perception.
Their year-long relationship developed so that Jessica and Benjamin were soon always together, and this eventually caused Barney to consider the next step. "I thought, 'This is stupid - we might as well be living together while we're in college. [Getting married would be] the same exact thing. It would just be easier.'"
The financial burden that comes along with marriage is one of the most stressful aspects of tying the knot, says Barney. "When you're young, you're usually both in school [so money issues are] harder."
But Michael Banks, a communication senior, says financial difficulties are worth the bond he shares with his fiancee. Banks proposed to his high school sweetheart, history senior Megan Estes, last August.
"I don't care if I have to live poor. I'm willing to do that because our relationship is more important than our financial [situation] or anything else," Banks says. "As long as I have her, I don't really care."
The negative statistics regarding the success rates of marriages don't concern Banks either, he says.
"Our convictions are that you are married for life, and that it's a very important bond that two people share forever," he says. "We are going into this new journey knowing that marriage is not perfect and easy, but that just like anything in life, there will be challenges and tough times. No matter what it takes, we're going to put our relationship first."
Reach the reporter at: nicole.m.stewart@asu.edu.
