While some students come to Loyola looking for a degree, others come to Loyola looking for a spouse and an opportunity to procreate. Or how some women in the past have put it, they’re looking to get their “MRS” Degree.

Even though marriage is not an immediate concern among most college students, their years at school are the time when students begin sizing up members of the opposite sex as potential life partners. They discover which qualities they find attractive and which ones they find irritating.

Why, then, are students at Loyola making the commitment on top of all the responsibilities of a higher education?

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, divorce rates were at an all-time high of 47 percent in 2004. While some student marriages could contribute to that statistic, the numbers of married or engaged students are not insubstantial.

The National College Health Risk Survey found that more than 20 percent of students between the ages 18 and 24 who attend four-year institutions were married in 1996, although the national average married age in 2003 was 25.3 for females and 27.1 for males.

Still, the vast majority of Loyola students are not married. And despite the struggle of balancing homework, jobs and a physically taxing social scene, some students believe that their “one and only” is roaming the Peace Quad or sitting across from them in the library.

Such is the case with Holly Masson, a mass communication senior from New Orleans, who is marrying Loyola graduate Barrett Brock, A’05, next March. The two met in the Monroe Library during finals week of December 2004 and were engaged the following March.

“Three months into dating, we both just knew,” Masson said. “It felt like the next step.”

The couple waited until Brock’s senior ring ceremony to inform their parents. Although hesitant at first, Masson said that her family is supportive.

“They see now that it’s not a spur-of-the-moment thing,” said Masson, who plans on moving to Houston after graduation where her fiancé works in marketing.

As for her peers’ reactions: “They think I’m crazy, or at least that’s the picture I get,” she said. “My friends who know Barrett (are) excited.”

One student who has already tied the knot is mass communication junior Shana Conneely-Ackles, whose husband, SPC. Sean Ackles, is serving in Iraq and will return home in December.

The couple, who have been together since middle school, were married in May 2005 and communicate primarily through e-mail and instant messenger.

“He calls sometimes,” said Conneely-Ackles, “which is hard because we’ve been together everyday for pretty much our whole lives.”

Before his deployment last December, the two shared an apartment where they lived during the summer and school breaks.

“The first year of marriage is seriously hard,” she said. “Living together is a huge adjustment.”

Even after assuming responsibilities like cooking and managing finances, Conneely-Ackles takes her education at Loyola very seriously.

“I thought about transferring to a school closer to him (when he was stationed in) Fort Polk (La.),” she said. “But this way I’m setting us up for the future.”

Conneely-Ackles takes a realistic approach to married life.

“There’s no screwing around; you are really married, and if something goes wrong, you have to answer to everyone,” she said.

For Masson, living with her fiancé will be a relatively new experience, although they did move in together last year for a brief period between housing situations.

“I never planned to have a live-in boyfriend. I was just raised like that,” Masson said. “It’s the Catholic guilt.”

While these two young women decided to tie the knot as a result of chance and circumstance, they don’t address the idea of students actively seeking marriage as a short-term goal.

Amy Hinkler, a mass communication senior, is a special breed of student: one who doesn’t only consider marriage, but hopes to tie down a fiancé before graduation. But it hasn’t been as easy as she anticipated.

“I’ve had practice, but no success. It’s hard to find a husband here,” Hinkler said.

Scouting hot spots like coffee shops and libraries, Hinkler has a head start on finding a future doctor- or lawyer-husband.

According to Hinkler, Tulane and Loyola’s law schools have more to offer. “Sometimes I’ll go to Tulane’s (law) library just to look,” said Hinkler.

After four years of observation, her faith in the undergraduate male population has dwindled. “Loyola is good if you’re looking for a lawyer type who plans to stay in New Orleans forever.” Other than that, she said, “the guys here are crazy. They seem normal, but then have (some) tragic character flaws.”

Students like Hinkler may seem few and far between, but perhaps her peers are just less assertive about their intentions.

One of Hinkler’s male friends advised her, “You’re not going to find the right guy if you’re looking for him.” Contradictory, but wise words. Most men are not too keen on losing their “bachelor’s” degree before they’ve graduated.

After the divorce boom of the 1980s, our generation may be swinging the pendulum back to more traditional marriage values. The recently-glamorized housewife trend saturating TV and fashion magazines is a throw back to squeaky-clean 1950s Americana that only exists on “Ozzie and Harriet.”

This potential movement hasn’t yet surfaced at Loyola, or it could simply be that certain schools attract a certain kind of student. New Orleans lends itself to a relaxed, unrestricted, pleasure-seeking lifestyle that probably does not mesh well with marriage-minded students.

The Office of Student Records accounts 43 students who list “spouse” as next of kin, although that doesn’t account for those who are engaged, or want to be.

Still, most students are prolonging their engagement until after college when they are more likely to acquire financial stability.

Math sophomore Angella Monroe, who has been engaged to her long-distance boyfriend for four months, is wary on the subject of student marriage.

“I think it’s a bit sketch, but when you’re 18, you think you know everything,” Monroe said.

As a result, married or engaged students are subject to varied criticism. Freshman Bio/Pre-Med major Carlos Vera, who got engaged last summer, has not received too much support. “My friends say ‘What have you done?’ or ‘That’s really weird.’ They all think I’m too young,” Vera said.

Nonetheless, there are those who have more confidence in the judgment of their peers.

“It depends on the couple and if they are mature enough to realize that it’s a hell of a commitment to make when you’re in college,” said freshman Bio/Pre-med major Marc Seither.

When it comes to legally binding relationships, college students have to find a balance between blind devotion and stark cynicism. Both marriage and college demand a great deal of adjusting, and both parties must be willing to face challenges and make sacrifices.

Many students say they feel that early marriage would put a damper on their identity search and future ambitions; but whether you’re Gloria Steinem or June Cleaver, the happiness of the individual couple will always be subjective.

Loyola students understand that they are still very young and that the decisions they make these next four years will impact the rest of their adult lives. Whether these decisions are romantic or otherwise, Loyola doesn’t offer divorce counseling.

But there are plenty of lawyers.

Nicole Mundy can be reached at [email protected].