In August 2016, my boyfriend and I will be celebrating four years together. Recently, we’ve known a couple people we went to school with, who’ve gotten engaged. Personally, I have been bombarded with the question: “Why haven’t you gotten engaged yet?!”. People have been surprised to hear me say that my boyfriend and I want to wait until we graduated college to get engaged.

But there are plenty other reasons why I’m not engaged yet. Here are three reasons why I’m not engaged yet.

1. I’m Still In College

That is a reason like I said above. Personally, I see nothing wrong with this. Right now my priority is my college education so I can get into the career I want and my boyfriend has the same mindset too. All in all, we’re both just too busy right now with college. May I add our financial state isn’t exactly great either. I mean to me it’s no fun getting married while still trying to pay and study in school. It works for some couples, but not for my boyfriend and I.

I will link this article about married college students from CNN entitled Saying 'I do' while studying at the ‘U’.

2. The "Long Term Engagement" is Not For Us.

Basically, here’s what I mean: I don’t want to be engaged for 2-3 years and not be able to plan a wedding until then. Plus, I want to avoid this question at all times: “So when’s the wedding?!”. Yeah, no thanks. Being engaged to someone you love is supposed to be a happy time and again this works for some couples, but not for my boyfriend and I. Getting engaged and not knowing when you’re getting married isn’t our ideal engagement.

I want to be able to be engaged when my college stress is out of the way and I want to be able to plan a wedding that’s the next year or months later.

3. We Have Plenty of Time!

My boyfriend and I are both 21 so we’re pretty young still. Our motto is taking one step at a time. College and getting our careers afterwards is extremely important to us at this moment in time. In life, you go through different chapters and stages. Right now, our chapter is college.

Yes we’ve been together for almost 4 years, but just because we aren’t engaged yet doesn’t mean we aren’t serious about our relationship. Put that stereotype away about couples (ESPECIALLY YOUNG ADULT COUPLES)

Overall, we’re still young. I’m still in college and I believe in one step at a time. Plus, you don’t have to put a ring on it to show that you care or love the person you’re with. Right now in this moment, college is the chapter I want to enjoy and live in.