For married students, college life can be different

When GCSU seniors Heath and Brittney Denmark started dating in 11th-grade after being friends for six years, they did not know where their futures would take them, but they knew they wanted to go together. And when the time came for the high school sweethearts to choose a college, they picked GCSU.

“We both loved the school. The campus, the people, everybody was just so welcoming and we just felt that it was right,” Brittney said.

When Heath got down on one knee in the spring of 2007 during the second semester of their first year away at college, Brittney said yes and the couple was faced with the reality of not only being full-time college students, but also a married couple on campus.

“I had to go through so many things with the school because I had to change my last name. That was really aggravating. They were really helpful though,” Brittney recalls.

After the couple married Aug. 4, 2007, Brittney received a new e-Cats address and had her records changed from Brittney Sparks to Brittney Denmark. Both students were also able to file as independents through the financial aid office.

Money is an important topic for most college students, but even more so for married couples who are also full-time students.

The Denmarks both work part-time jobs on top of their full-time student schedules – Brittney at Body Plex and Heath as a supplemental instructor here at GCSU. The couple also receives money from various grants and other means of financial aid including the Free Application For Student Aid.

“It has been hard. Money’s been tight,” Brittney said. “We’ve got a lot of financial aid because we’re married. We’re independent now. That’s what we filed on our FAFSA.”

The FAFSA does not give special treatment to married couples, but it can help couples like the Denmarks if they do not make enough money as independents.

“As with any other student, if the student does the FAFSA, they go through the need-analysis calculation that takes their income, so you could have a married couple that makes well and not qualify for aid, but then you may have a married couple trying to go to school and live off financial aid,” Cathy Crawly, director of financial aid, said.

GCSU does not have any specific aid with the qualifying criteria of being married, but many scholarships available for married couples exist outside of the federal, state and institutional systems.

Brittney and Heath both lived in the same building at Bobcat Village during their freshman years and moved into a duplex together for their sophomore years.

GCSU does not offer any housing options for married couples. Married freshmen, however, are exempt from the on-campus requirement and may live with their spouse wherever they choose.

“Some universities decide to do that based on their student population,” Cindy McClanahan, marketing coordinator for university housing, said. “Our student population hasn’t produced a demand for married-student housing so it’s not something we’ve really looked into anytime we’ve looked to build.”

Once the housing and financial issues of their new relationship status was worked out, the Denmarks were confronted with the busy schedules of involved college students.

Heath, a chemistry major, is the president of the pre-med club and a member of the chemistry club, while his wife, an exercise science major, is an active member in Sigma Alpha Omega.

A normal day for the couple starts with classes in the morning, coming home to eat lunch because it’s cheaper, more classes, work, dinner, and then studying. All of this makes time together hard for these college students. Brittney also recalls instances when fellow college students treated her differently because of her marital status.

“Sometimes I’ll feel left out of certain things because I’m married. People feel like ‘oh she’s married, she has to go home and see her husband, you know, and cook him supper,” she said.

Heath and Brittney are not the only students enrolled at GCSU who are married. It is reported that at least 48 undergraduate students and 293 graduate students are married. Due to the fact that the majority students do not update their martial status after admission to GCSU, these numbers may not accurately reflect the marriage statuses of students.

“It’s not that it is not recorded when people apply here. They put it in, but it never makes it off the printed page into the system because it’s not data that’s considered important,” Dr. Edward Hale, director of institutional research, said.

The Denmarks do socialize with other married couples and also single friends. The couple plans to graduate in May.

Through the two years they have been married, they have overcome many trials and experienced many joys in college and in love, they said.

“It’s been great and I wouldn’t change anything. I love it everyday and it is a challenge. You have to be willing to work at it,” Brittney said.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 18 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry