Sweetheart
SANCTUARY
University students are joining millions of people nationwide who are
living with unmarried partners; many say compromise is the key
BY EMILY CHARRIER
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
ccording to the 2000 Census, 11 million
people are living with an unmarried part
x jL ner in the United States, including same
sex and opposite-sex couples. Many students at
the University are following the trend as an in
creasing number of couples move in together.
“I really don’t have too many other people I
know well enough to live with,” Kourtney
Paranteau, 20, said.
After dating her partner, 20-year-old Jordan
Meister, for two years, Paranteau took the
next step. In September, the journalism
majors decided to move in together.
Paranteau had lived in the residence halls,
and when her roommate moved out, Meister
became a fairly permanent fixture. After practi
cally living together in the residence halls, get
ting an apartment together wasn’t as scary as
Paranteau thought it would be.
“I think we anticipated a lot more pitfalls
than we’ve actually encountered,” she said.
Just like any living situation, couples who
room together have compromises to make.
Above all, they have to learn how to balance
a live-in partner while maintaining their
own interests.
“I’m obsessed with TV, and he loves his
Xbox,” said Lindsay Munroe, 22, about her live
in partner of four months, Chris Morin.
However, other couples said major
compromises are rare.
“We make a lot of little ones,” said Spanish
major Adriyn Hayes, who has been living with
her partner, Dana Sniezko, for 13 months. “We
try to do what’s most practical.”
While living with a partner requires lots of
negotiation, there are also benefits, including
saving money on everything from food
to bills.
“My bills were literally cut in half,”
Munroe said.
Couples living together might favor splitting
bills in a more informal way.
“For dates we almost always go Dutch, or
one of us will get it and the other will the next
time’”\ 1/
Hayes
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more personal.
“The bed is always warm, and there is
always someone to take care of you when
you’re sick,” Hayes said.
“I like it that when 1 cook it’s for more than
just me,” Paranteau said.
Once graduation comes, couples must decide
how to handle the next step.
“Wherever I can get a job is where I’ll go,”
Munroe said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep
living together.”
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