I'm warning you now this is a long read, but I need some advice about my current situation. Any advice, especially from older and experienced women, would be greatly appreciated!

I'm 18 and so is my boyfriend, we're both in college and we want to get an off-campus apartment together our junior year. We've been together for a year now, and he's been saving money in an account for us for the past year. He lives with his grandparents, who are very religious and kinda restricting so he wants to move out. We decided from the moment we began our relationship that the point of us dating was to eventually be married, so we've taken our commitment very seriously. We also feel like at least 3-5 years of dating is enough time to know if you really wanna get married or not. I told him that I don't want to live with him and not be married because my father wouldn't approve, and my boyfriend respects that. He says that he wants to take care of me even if I don't want to work. We wouldn't financially be in the place to have a wedding, so we'll probably do a courthouse wedding or something small and nontraditional.

My parents are very generous (sometimes too much) and they fund my entire life. They're paying for my education and giving me money to take care of myself while I'm in school. I've never had a job, despite opportunities I've had to get one because my mom thinks it's too distracting to work while I'm in school. They don't want me to move out until I get my degree and save enough money to buy a house, then get married. They're against me doing anything on my own, including getting married now, because they think I'll get pregnant and ruin my life and that they're making the best decisions for me. They think I'm too young and naive to do anything, and that I won't save money if I move out. They say that they'll stop paying for my education if I leave home before I finish school. I feel like a child compared to so many people my age who are doing well for themselves on their own, my parents have sheltered me my entire life and I'd like to grow up. I want to see what the world is like, and I want to do it soon; not when my parents decide they're ready to let me grow up. I've been thinking about getting married and leaving, and getting married when I'm 20; even if it's not as easy as living with mom and dad. I also feel like they'll try to keep me from moving out if I don't have any legal way to gain true financial independence from them and that they won't take me seriously otherwise, so marriage would really help that.

I plan to get my master's degree, and marry my boyfriend in the next 5 years. I figure: why wait if we can receive more benefits as married independents for school, live together like we want to, and continue to save? By the time we're 20, we'll have been together for 3 years; and if we get married young we'll really get to enjoy our lives and our marriage before having kids. Even if my parents don't approve of me leaving while I'm in school I think that if they really want me to get a degree as much as they say they do, they would help me. If they don't, I figure the aid we can get will help me pay for school or I'll have to take out a loan. This year, I plan on getting a job on campus and a job for when I'm staying at my parents' house on break so I can save money with my boyfriend. I'm also planning on taking the depo shot soon (so far we've been using condoms) to really make sure that there are no slip ups.

I understand that my parents love me very much; I'm grateful for the privileged life they've given me, the love they've shown me, and how much they just want me to have a better life than they did. I just feel like they're too restricting and controlling, to the point where I'm not as informed about the world as most people my age and have no sense of independence. They're not letting me grow up and I don't think it's fair to me, I'd like to live my life now. As long as I live in their house and live off their money, I feel that I have to respect their rules and wishes against my own.

You may be wondering why it matters to me that we're married while living together or why I care about my father's opinion even though he wouldn't approve of me getting married so young; if you are, this is my answer: because I value his morals and that is the way he and my mother raised me to be. Our culture sees living together unmarried as a negative thing, and my family would be disappointed. I feel like even if they're angry about me moving out, they'd have to respect my decisions as an adult if I'm not living with them so they'll eventually get over it if I at least did it the way that they taught me is right.

I guess I just want to know if my dreams are too ambitious or unrealistic. Are my parents right that I'll ruin my life if I leave them? Is 20 too young to be married and living on my own? Should I stay with them and follow their plan? Or am I right that my parents are hindering me from growing up? Am I too young to make big decisions on my own? Is it a better idea to move out, but not get married? Are my plans childish or immature? Please tell me what you think. Again, any advice is greatly appreciated, even if you think it's not what I want to hear. Thank you for reading all this.