College campuses largely consist of students who are single. A married student can feel out of place and find it difficult to relate to other students. Some of the challenges you are likely to face and strategies for overcoming these are outlined below.

1. You get married sometime during your college career and you have taken your spouses’ last name.
   • Advice: Work with the registrar to change your name. It’s probably best to do this at the end of the spring semester so there will be sufficient time to complete the name change before the next semester starts.
2. You need to work with students on assignments, and your spouse is jealous when you are with your group.
   • Advice: Hold group meetings in your apartment so your spouse can get to know your classmates.
3. Your friends want you to go out and your spouse can not join you.
   • Advice: Discuss this with your spouse and set parameters for each other. There are times in college when you and your spouse will want to go out with friends. This is a case where you need to agree to guidelines for what’s appropriate.
4. There are time commitments from your marriage that may interfere with your academic responsibilities.
   • Advice: Develop a white board that shows times when you and your spouse have marriage obligations. Most of your academic responsibilities can be managed if you plan in advance.

While being married does offer some challenges for students, these can be managed with the approaches outlined above..