After bickering over what to have for dinner, Justin Kueker unwrapped a package of ground beef while Maria Frangioni reached for a box of Hamburger Helper.

Making dinner together is just one adjustment they have had to make since moving in together this August.

Robin Moremen, director of undergraduate studies in the sociology department, said student couples who are living together can be successful if they are on the same wavelength when it comes to relationship issues.

“If both partners have the same degree of commitment, then it could be a good situation for them,” she said.

Couples moving in together before marriage is not as uncommon as it was in the past.

Frangioni, a junior elementary education major and Kueker, a junior electrical engineering major, will have been together for three years this October. They made the decision to live together mostly because of financial reasons.

“We just figured it would be cheaper,” Frangioni said. “And we basically lived together in the residence halls anyway,” Kueker said.

Laura Smart, a professor in the school of family, consumer, and nutrition sciences, said living with one’s partner can be a good or a bad decision depending on the reasons for moving in together.

“For some, it’s a good idea; for others, it’s not,” she said. “It’s probably a better reason to co-habitate if people truly are testing a relationship, rather than just wanting someone to do the cooking and the laundry or just to save money,” she said.

Anna Ramirez, a senior Spanish literature major, said the hardest part about living with her boyfriend is dealing with other people’s reactions to their living arrangement.

“It’s hard to deal with our friends telling us we are too young to live together or that we are married,” Ramirez said.