For most students, weekends are a time to catch up on a little studying before a night filled with friends, festivities and maybe a favorite band.

But for Kayla Joplin, there is one band that has completely changed her plans – her wedding band.

Although being married in college may deem them “nontraditional,” some married students wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I don’t regret anything,” said Joplin, a junior from Homer. “It takes a certain kind of person to be married and go to school. It takes a toll, but college takes a toll on everyone regardless.”

Joplin and her husband Jered celebrated their one-year anniversary in May.

Joplin is finishing her bachelor’s degree and plans to apply to medical school. Her husband runs his own company.

And as most of her friends are putting the finishing touches on their makeup for a night out, Joplin finds herself in front of the TV for her biweekly movie night to spend some long-awaited quality time with her husband.

“I don’t have a social life other than him,” she said. “When you’re married, your priorities are different.”

And though being married in college is working out well for this couple, it’s still fairly uncommon – at least at the undergraduate level.

Mark Stead, a graduate student from Olympia, Wash., chose to wait until graduate school to get married.

After long days in the lab, he looks forward to going home to his wife Jessica, and 1-year-old daughter Emma.

According to Stead, there is a higher percentage of married students when you get into graduate school, and his perspective on school versus marriage is slightly different than if he had been married as an undergraduate.

“In my view at least, it’s more important to keep the marriage alive rather than study 80 hours a week and pull a 4.0 [GPA],” he said. “If you are married and at school, you’ve got to pay attention to your spouse. When it comes down to it, your marriage is more important than school.”

Kristi Curtwright, a graduate student from Duluth, has been married to her husband, Drew, since July 2008 and said she is devoted to her relationship above all else.

“You can finish your graduate degree later,” she said. “I put them in order as: God, marriage, then school.”

Despite being married, Curtwright said she and her husband manage to keep up with their studies at the University, as she is continuing graduate school and her husband is in law school.

Balancing the roles of student and spouse can seem impossible, but their new priorities bring about an increased level of determination.

“Being married can be distracting at times, but for me it helps me get my stuff done right after school so I have time to enjoy being with my husband once he gets home,” said Chelsea Gray, a junior from Fisher, Ind., and newlywed of almost two months.

Gray commutes to class from the couple’s new home in Lawrenceville, and her husband, David, works as an accountant in Dunwoody. She said her scheduling seems to have helped her make the transition to being a married student.

“The only thing that has really changed is that I’m now commuting, and I’m no longer working,” she said.

Effective time management is not only a major component of being a successful student, it also appears to be the key to developing a healthy marriage while staying on track for your degree.

Jennifer Gonyea, a lecturer and undergraduate coordinator in child and family development, said the success of young marriages depends on how well the couple can adjust to the added strain of being “the perfect spouse, a good student and developing a professional career.”

“It puts a lot of strain on the new form of the relationship when you should be concentrating on forming that marital bond,” she said.

Gonyea stressed the risks of walking down the aisle before walking the graduation stage.

“Based on U.S. Census data and other studies, if you get married before 20, you have two times the divorce risk than if you wait until you’re 20 years old,” Gonyea said.

Gonyea said another common problem for young married couples is they focus more energy on perfecting the wedding rather than their relationship.

Curtwright said the stress of the wedding and trying to please everyone involved made it difficult to focus on what life would be like after the honeymoon.

“Your family doesn’t really think about once you get home from the honeymoon – they think about the wedding, their aspects and expectations, and you get so caught up in something that lasts maybe six hours,” Curtwright said. “You’re blinded by that, and it was so refreshing to go to our meetings with the pastor. By the end of our sessions we were both thinking, ‘Forget the wedding, we’re gonna be married!’”

Still, between the stress of class, work and family, somehow these married students make it work.

Katie Childers, a senior from Monroe, said there is no time better than the present to begin her family and future with her husband, Jacob, and 16-month-old son, Cabe.

“Do what’s right for you,” Childers said. “Don’t put off getting married just to say you’re waiting until you graduate.”

Stead said being married has improved his studies, rather than taken away from them.

“If I don’t do what I’m supposed to be doing, [my wife] puts me back on task, which is good,” he said.

And relying on someone who can relate has benefitted Gray when it comes to school-induced stress.

“[My husband is] able to help me and he understands my workload and how intense it really is,” Gray said.

Joplin appreciates having someone to turn to when her busy schedule of classes and undergraduate research start to wear on her.

“Any time that I feel like I’m overwhelmed or burned out on school, he’s the person I talk to,” Joplin said. “I’m lucky to have him, because none of my family knows what I go through since I’m the first one to go to college.”

Joplin believes communication is the most important aspect of a healthy marriage.

“You have to talk to your spouse,” she said. “As soon as you lose communication, everything else is gone because you don’t know who that person is anymore.”

Premarital counseling is one way couples can improve communication and address important issues before considering marriage.

Curtwright and her husband went to marital counseling with their pastor prior to tying the knot, and she felt strongly about sharing the advice she was given.

“He said the greatest gift you can give your kids is to have a good marriage, and I completely agree,” she said.

Even couples who didn’t go to counseling said it has its benefits.

“I’m not opposed to it,” Joplin said. “If anything, it’s probably best because there are a lot of topics you need to discuss before you even think about marriage.”

Some couples Gonyea sees approach counseling as more of a preventative measure than a cure.

“It’s like taking a vitamin,” she said. “You take your vitamins so you don’t have problems.”

The benefits and struggles of a young marriage can no doubt be infinitely weighed, but in the end it is only up to the couple and what they feel is best for them.

“It was definitely the right thing for me,” Gray said. “For certain people it is definitely not – but for me it was. Just make sure you know who you’re marrying and that it’s the right time for you.”