Criminal justice senior Frank Varner and journalism senior Rodneya Ross describe their love for one another. The couple will marry this summer.
Finance junior Mark Streeter and elementary education sophomore America MacDermaid walked through Hawk Island County Park in Lansing, stopping at a bridge overlooking a river. It was February, and fresh snow blanketed the ground. For Streeter, it was the perfect time to propose.
As he got down on one knee, his high school sweetheart gave him a weird look and a surge of panic hit him: What does this mean? Does this mean no?
It meant he had opened the ring box upside down as he pulled it out of his pocket.
MacDermaid just smiled, laughed and said yes.
“I don’t have to search any longer,” Streeter said. “I found my soul mate.”
Streeter and MacDermaid are among some undergraduate couples deciding to tie the knot, despite recently released data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicating fewer young people are getting married.
The probability of a person in the U.S. getting married by the age 25 has dropped to less than half, according to the CDC, but for MacDermaid, there’s no question in her mind as to why she should get married now.
“Since I know I already want to spend the rest of my life with him, it just makes sense,” MacDermaid said.
Data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates the median age at first marriage has increased steadily sine the 1970s. In 1970, the median age of first marriage for a woman was 20.8, and the median age for a man was 23.2. According to the most recent data from 2010, the median age for males is 28.7, and the median age for females is 26.7.
Assistant professor of sociology Hui Liu said the national trend indicates more people are delaying marriage until after their college years or are choosing to live together instead.
“I think a lot of people want to get married after they have some economic foundation,” Liu said.
First comes adjustment
For criminal justice senior Frank Varner and journalism senior Rodneya Ross, their relationship’s first year at MSU was rocky. They saw each other every day. She wanted to stay home. He wanted to go out. Breaking up. Getting back together. Over and over, until Varner said he was sick of taking breaks.
“Younger people compared to older (people) are less experienced in handling all kinds of stress — relationship strain, family strain,” Liu said.
Varner started to stay home with her more. Ross started to be more accepting of the idea of him going out.
“It was a give and take we both needed to do,” Varner said.
They took some time to re-evaluate their relationship and decided they needed to stay together. They’ve been together ever since and are getting married this June.
“I would be stupid to let him go,” Ross said. “He is always there for me.”
When MacDermaid first started college, she and Streeter found it hard to be apart.
After Streeter and MacDermaid’s mother dropped her off at her dorm in Hubbard Hall freshman year, she fell to the floor, crying. She didn’t know how she was going to survive a year alone while Streeter was attending a community college. And the college atmosphere added more challenges.
Could she go to parties where there were other guys? Would it be OK for her to go to another guy’s dorm room?
“It was just a hard adjustment being away from each other,” MacDermaid said. “It was good to be apart though. I was able to grow on my own.”
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And when Streeter came to MSU a year later, they were able to grow together, biking across campus and taking late night walks to Beal Botanical Garden. Every Tuesday, they eat lunch together in Erickson Hall.
“We’ve learned how to give each other freedom,” MacDermaid said. “[Going to MSU] taught us about the lives we want to live together.”
Then comes marriage
For Katie Love, owner of the Wedding Bell, 5100 Marsh Road, in Okemos, and Kaitlin McGlashen, a manager at David’s Bridal, 4940 Marsh Road, in Okemos, most of their younger clientele tend to be graduate students or students who have recently graduated.
“I don’t see a lot of people who are still in school,” McGlashen said. “Your typical bride is into her late 20s.”
For Streeter and MacDermaid, the rest of their lives can’t start soon enough.
“I don’t see a reason to wait,” Streeter said. “I don’t see any downfall at all.”
But according to Liu, the economics of a college relationship is a big factor, given that after graduation, the couple will go through a lot of changes, such as looking for housing or trying to find a job in the same area.
Streeter said he does worry about some of the financial strain caused by planning a wedding and going to school.
“They both cost quite a bit of money,” Streeter said. “Just have to make sure we save as much as we can.”
Streeter and MacDermaid will marry in the Alumni Memorial Chapel on June 1, 2013 on their four-year anniversary.
Davison, Mich., resident Amy LaCross, MacDermaid’s mother, is ecstatic about her daughter’s upcoming wedding.
“I prayed for the perfect husband for her, and he is that times a million,” LaCross said.
“They have nothing but the best in store for them in the future, and I’m ready for grandkids to come anytime.”
