<p>Thanks! He’s not a huge football fan, but he was accepted into some great programs and his education for 4 yrs will cost us about $10k.</p>
<p>He’s leaving next Thursday and will do a week of volunteer service before school starts.</p>
<p>Now that the US is trending toward the European model of no marriage, a lot of this is becoming moot for most people.</p>
<p>He might end up caught up in the football. It’s a fun community thing. I know Alabama is doing great work in getting bright kids into their school. Great facilities.</p>
<p>Niqui-- If you have any interest in the scholarly work on this subject, you should look into the names on that list. You will find plenty of scholarly work that criticizes those studies AND those writers. Also, be aware that the Laumann work is widely considered to be flawed in methodology.</p>
<p>Regardless, intimacy is a personal choice, and I support you in yours.</p>
<p>He was accepted at Madison and Minnesota, but I think Alabama is a better fit for him. I’ve been impressed with how student centric it is for a large university and as a younger student, he will have more personalized attention there.</p>
<p>Yes, Alabama has been able to attract a lot of very bright kids from across the country.</p>
<p>Meh, my mom had worse pains than I “supposedly” do, therefore, if she could do it…I could get through it too. This will change in college, however. I’m not about that throwing up/not being able to sleep, stand, or talk life. I wasn’t able to go to school at least for two days every month. It had nothing to do with sex. It was her view on it. </p>
<p>romani, thank your parents.</p>
<p>Thought you said he was a college sophomore?</p>
<p>Seriously, with the steady decline in marriage and the huge up-swing in adults under 30’s lack of religious affiliation and motivation, is the “premarital” concern particularly relevant? Isn’t it solely a health issue for most? </p>
<p>[?Nones</a>? on the Rise | Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project](<a href=““Nones” on the Rise | Pew Research Center”>“Nones” on the Rise | Pew Research Center)</p>
<p>Lindz, he has 40 credits so he’s officially a sophomore.</p>
<p>I think UA is a good choice since he’s 16, and for financial reasons.</p>
<p>Madison would be, IME, very tough to be 16, and Minnesota is Urban, which presents its own problems at that age.</p>
<p>Will he live in the honors dorm?</p>
<p>
I wouldn’t be so sure. My dh’s roommate was 15 when he started college and was 16 when I met him, I only found out a few years ago how young he had been. He had a steady girlfriend by junior year. (Possibly helped by some clothing advice by yours truly - don’t worry he asked me to critique his wardrobe.)</p>
<p>By all accounts teens have been having sex since forever, they just got married younger. My parents like OHmomof2’s got married very early - 18 and 20. (Due to a pregnancy scare that turned out not to be an issue, but they got married anyway.)</p>
<p>I don’t know if marriage is a better deal for the man or the woman, but I’m pretty sure it’s a better deal for children.</p>
<p>Poetgirl, yes, he’s in the honors dorm and he’s also in the STEM MBA and CBH programs.</p>
<p>He’s been interning for a software company for over a year and I asked him if wanted to take a gap year and continue working, but he wants to continue on with school.</p>
<p>Teen pregnancy today is much lower than it was in the 1950’s, though then more of those pregnancies occurred inside (or just before) a teen marriage.</p>
<p>"^ not being able to have sex before getting married."</p>
<p>Yes. This. The pastor I work for actually talked about this and why marrying young for that reason isn’t always the best predictor of a good marriage. She used her own marriage as an example-she married while still in college but feels she was not really a grown up yet. But the pressure to marry young and start a family was too strong. Luckily for her it worked out, but she would do it differently if she had the option.</p>