When Rachel Hayes gets married next month, her name and benefits under the nation’s law will change.
But she won’t be able to live on-campus with her husband.
Hayes, a freshman studying pre-veterinary, will marry Jonathan Crooks on Oct. 5. He doesn’t attend Ohio University, but lives in their hometown of Woodsfield, Ohio, a nearly two-hour drive from Athens.
Hayes said Crooks wanted to live with her on-campus, but couldn’t because of OU’s residential options and the expenses associated with renting a house in Athens.
Wolfe Street Apartments was previously OU’s on-campus residence hall for couples and families, but the building was torn down June 2012 because of “extraordinary deferred maintenance costs,” said Peter Trentacoste, executive director of Residential Housing.
Wolfe Street was near South Green, close to academic buildings and a playground. The complex had 52 units for recent graduates, faculty and staff.
University officials discussed offering on-campus housing options once again for families and couples, but there aren’t anyprojects in the works as part of the university’s Housing Master Plan.
Instead, the university’s Off-Campus Living works with couples and families to find living arrangements after they’ve satisfied OU’s requirement of having lived on-campus for their first two years of school.
The university suggests apartment complexes such as Carriage Hill Apartments, which are close to public transportation to the university, said Barbara Harrison, assistant director for Off-Campus Living and Community Service.
Even if there were options available for married students, most couples are waiting to tie the knot. Recently couples are marrying in their late 20s — 27 for women and 29 for men, according to a 2013 report by the National Marriage Project, a nonpartisan group that analyzes United States marriage statistics.
It doesn’t seem as if that number will decrease anytime soon, according to the report.
“Young adults are taking longer to finish their education and stabilize their work lives. Culturally, young adults have increasingly come to see marriage as a ‘capstone’ rather than a ‘cornerstone’ — that is, something they do after they have all their other ducks in a row, rather than a foundation for launching into adulthood and parenthood,” according to the study.
Hayes and her beau — who have been together for four years now — decided to tie the knot at such a young age because her veterinary studies will keep her in school for another five years after she finishes her undergraduate degree, and they didn’t want to wait a long time.
Because they won’t be living together after their wedding, though, the couple will still find themselves waiting.
“It’s depressing that he can’t be here with me,” Hayes said, “I have to wait for the weekend.”
db794812@ohiou.edu
@Dinaivey
