Bf doesn't believe in creative proposals/ring

In school we were discussing girl's equality and what we thought about a girl asking the question. We all thought it was odd and possibly embarrassing for both of them, specially the guy. When I brought it up to my SO he was like "proposals don't matter, rings don't matter, it's the marriage that matters." Obviously this is true, and I know that  his mom doesn't wear a ring. But come on! It's engraved in our culture, we don't live in a perpetual vegas where we can get married because "you can ask after eating spaghetti or something" THOSE ARE HIS WORDS! I honestly wanna cry like I don't even know what I'm doing w him anymore, knowing I will have a casual proposal and no ring. We've been together for 2yrs going on 3 but we are both still trying to get our bachelor's so marriage is out of the picture right now. But still! How do y'all feel about no ring? I feel like if he wasn't gonna buy a ring he should go all out on the friggin proposal and if he wants to do a quiet proposal, the ring better be bitchin'