The saying “ring by spring” is one that often gets repeated around Ouachita’s campus, especially by single women during their senior year. And while a fair number of Ouachita students are married immediately after graduation, this summer the trend has been reversed.
This year the registrar shows at least 32 students listed as married. More than a dozen couples were married this summer, the last on Aug. 30.
For these couples, life in a committed relationship is not about the restrictions it brings but about the new opportunities it provides.
Drew and Emily Cason were married June 7. For them, getting married before Drew graduated was a way of relieving some stress
“I plan on attending medical school and have heard it is hard,” Drew said. “And I’ve also heard the first year of marriage is hard. We didn’t want to try both of those at the same time.”
Seniors Brian and Angela Burk, who dated for a little more than a year before being married, felt similarly.
“We’d already gotten so close that waiting another year seemed out of the question,” Brian said. “It made sense and seemed easier [to get married now], like we were stepping into the shallow end before hitting the real world.”
And although being married can cut back on some things most single college students enjoy, these couples are not fazed.
“It takes away time from hanging out with just my guy friends, but now we can hang out in big groups over here in our apartment,” Drew said.
Lindsey [Wright] Forga married her husband, Ben, August 9 after he returned from an eight-month deployment with the Marine Corps.
“I don’t think [being married] will take anything away, except I won’t get as much time with my pledge sisters,” Lindsey said. “[What it adds is] living with him. He’s my best friend.”
Planning a budget is a must, and each couple has found a way to get through the rest of school with added costs.
The Casons sat down and made a monthly budget the day after they got engaged.
“We pretty much asked how much of this goes toward Wal-Mart? Almost everything,” Drew said. Finances are “not as big of a burden as it could be” though because Emily works full time as an elementary school teacher.
Angela and Brian plan to get by with part-time jobs at Andrews Candy Co.
“We make spending time together every day a priority,” Angela said. “We have to be more conscious of how we spend our time, getting homework done so we can make dinner and relax.”
Lindsey’s mother offered wise advice concerning time management.
“My mom told me that even if it was just for 15 minutes a day, take that and spend quality time focusing on each other,” Lindsey said.
Though oftentimes it seems like the last thing college students need are a few more things in their day, where there’s a will there’s a way.
“This is a deeper relationship than your average friendship,” said Angela.
“We’ve known each other since sixth grade,” Lindsey said, “And we were ready to start the rest of our lives together.”
