From 2000 to 2011, the number of unmarried people living with their partners increased from roughly 3 million to 6.7 million, a 123 percent increase, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It could be because of the economy. It could be because some people of the current generation place less emphasis on religious morals. It could be because people don’t want to get divorced, so they are just living together instead to avoid the messiness associated with it. At least, that is what some think.

“The taboos against living together, primarily religious, have become less powerful. Also, the divorce rate is so high that people want to take their relationships for a test run. Living together is much bigger than just dating, but not as big as marriage,” says Johanna Lyman, JOY professor in Wai Koloa, Hawaii.

As a JOY— Just Own Yourself— professor, Lyman teaches people how to create relationships and experiences they want, so they can lead a full life.

Melanie McQuade, Lenexa senior, and Jim Stanton, Overland Park, started dating in October 2010. They have technically been living together since July, but since November 2010, when they each had their own places, they have been staying at the same place.

They now live in a house with two other people, which Stanton says works out best in terms of finances. Money was not an issue for McQuade, but she did have some things to consider before moving in with Stanton. “If we did split up, what would we do? We could still live in the same house; just not have the same room. Or I could move in with my parents and commute. I had backup plans,” McQuade says.

Stanton says that he enjoys living with McQuade and that it is a lot more intimate when people do live together. “I think if you can still just really like a person when they’re in their pajamas and just woke up, then that’s really something,” Stanton says.

After McQuade graduates this May, she and Stanton plan on getting a place together in Kansas City, Mo. “My mom always told me you should live with someone before you marry him or her so you can see if you are compatible to spend the rest of your lives together,” McQuade says.

But people don’t always see cohabitation as a step before marriage, Lyman says. “People, especially women, tend to assume that it’s a stepping stone to marriage, so I would be careful with assumptions before you move in with someone,” Lyman says.

Stanton and McQuade think cohabitation has increased because of both costs and convenience. “People are now more accepting of that kind of living situation. If someone has to move away, the other person doesn’t have to follow, and it doesn’t result in divorce,” McQuade says.

Rose Reynolds, Overland Park senior, and Nathan Hutchcraft, Lenexa senior, have been dating for two and a half years, but do not live together. While some people move in together for financial reasons, these two don’t live together for that same reason. Reynolds says the rent would be higher if she just lived with Hutchcraft, so she lives with three other roommates, which is more cost effective. However, Reynolds does stay at Hutchcraft’s place so often that some people think she does live there. “One reason I stay at his place is because we share groceries. I’ll get off work and we’ll eat dinner. And I’m like, ‘I could go back to my apartment, or, he has a nice big bed, I could just stay here,’” Reynolds says.

After graduation, Reynolds will work more to make more money, so the two will be able to afford to live together. Reynolds believes that moving in together is the step before marriage. “I’ve even heard from this Catholic woman, before she divorced, that I should live with my boyfriend before I got married,” Reynolds says. Hutchcraft thinks that our generation isn’t bound by “unnecessary morals” like the generations before us were, which is why more people cohabit.

However, Meredith Hiller, St. Louis sophomore, believes that the deterioration of these morals shows a disregard for the sanctity of marriage. “It’s just become something of convenience. But, if you live together before marriage, it just encourages temptation to have sex. If you live together, what do you have to look forward to when you get married?” Hiller says.