Where Is the Love? Students Eschew Campus Romance Abby Fritch And Tiffanie Heestand

College Romance  Campus romances are becoming a thing of the past  Gone are the days of sorority houses and dorms being marked with candle-passing ceremonies signifying a new engagement  No longer are “The Old Pump” at Purdue University and “Kissing Tree” at Transylvania University major hot spots.  College life today has become competitive  Students are focused on careers  Many students aren’t going to college to look for their spouses anymore.

Martial Hunting Ground  According to a study conducted in 1992 containing 3,432 adults 23% of married couples reported meeting in school or college While 15% reported work as the place they met their spouse

Martial Hunting Ground  According to a 2006 Harris Interactive study of 2,985 adults 14% of people who are married or in a relationship say they met in college or school While 18% claim to have met at work

Reasons  Researchers cite a couple of factors as the reason for the decline in married/dating couples meeting in college Young adults are delaying marriage 15 years ago the median age for first marriage for men 26.3 and women 24.1 Today the median age for first marriage is 27.5 for men and 25.5 for women

Reasons Credential Inflation An increase in the qualifications required for many skilled jobs Flexibility to relocate freely Ability to immerse themselves in new work Educational Opportunities

Relationships  College students today feel light relationships won’t compromise what they want to do in their future, such as where to go to grad school or what job they should take  Students today are having fun on group date  Also they find deep, but platonic male- female friendships are easier (more common)

Dating  Concerned Parents need not worry, many young adults return to traditional dating after graduation  Young adults today want to find a quality person, good person to marry

Stronger Marriages Forged on Campus or the Work World?

Sue Shellenbarger’s Opinion  Concerned after she reported the fewer college students are finding their mates on campus, and report the office replaces school as the Number 1 place for pairing up.  Today’s numbers of young males not marrying till 27.5 and women not till 25.5 are the highest levels ever recorded by the Census Bureau since 1890  This new trend toward marrying later is proceeding at a breakneck pace

Sue Shellenbarger’s Opinion  Saw the same trend when she looked at her own family Sue’s parents met in high school Her older siblings met their spouses in undergraduate school Sue waited until after she established her career and began working before she met and married her husband Her three Gen-X kids followed in her footsteps and waited until they began working to met and marry their spouses While her two Gen-Y kids, aged 17 and 20 claim they will wait even longer to get married

Sue Shellenbarger’s Opinion  Feels college campuses should be the place where college students meet their potential life partners  College life allows you to observe each other as whole people across many contexts, including work, social, residential, and extracurricular life.

Sue Shellenbarger’s Opinion  Feels the office romance tends to be shaped more often by a partners’ relative power, influence, job skills and/or status  Office lovers have less of an opportunity to get to know their partners in the broader context of an around-the-clock community  Office romances are often more pushed for spending time together than college romances

Sue Shellenbarger’s Opinion  Maybe instead of focusing on where we met our spouses, we should think more deeply about why we choose them  In the end why we choose them should be the most important factor, not if you met them in college or at work