21M wondering if a 2-year gap during university is realistic before marriage
Salam alykum brothers and sisters, I hope you guys are all in good health and iman
This is my first time writing a long Reddit post, so if it’s seem unstructured or rushed, please do forgive me. I’m in a unique situation, so any help would be greatly appreciated
I’m currently 21 residing in Ottawa with my family and have 3 years left of school(I’m in my 4th year of university and have extra years because I switched programs). There is this girl I’m interested in that I got to see around in my schools MSA and I have really developed a genuine interest for her through brief respectful interactions in our MSA environment. I’m not looking for anything casual long term and I feel there could be compatibility based on shared values that I haven’t really found in others. She graduates after this year. I plan after this year to express to her my intention of marriage. What I’m scared about though is that she would have to wait 2 years for me. My financial trajectory is expected to be very good for after I graduate because I have lot of connections within my field and have job lined up for after graduation,so supporting her post graduation wouldn’t be an issue. And I’m also currently working right now on a side business and have a somewhat stable income. I’m also still actively working on personal growth and becoming more stable as a person so that I could be a good person for her and for myself. The main pressure of this whole situation though is cultural expectations(me being Palestinian and the girl I’m reaching out to being Lebanese). Marriage is typically looked down upon for a student and is usually preferred for after graduation and nikah is usually preferred a few months before the wedding.
Has anyone encountered anything similar? Is a 2-year gap during university generally considered too long or unrealistic in this situation, and would it be unfair to her? Am I overthinking this whole timeline aspect a bit?