When people turn 18, they are legally classified as an adult. However, many college students do not feel like they are a full-fledged adult yet.

Laura Chavez, graphic design major, does not consider herself an adult, despite being 18 years old. Chavez lives at home with her family and commutes to Sacramento State for classes.

“Mentally, I don’t feel like [I’m an adult] because I don’t have responsibilities that others do, like paying bills,” said Chavez.

Chavez thinks the age someone becomes an adult can vary, because everyone has different experiences in life.

“I think it depends on what type of responsibilities they have [or] what they’ve gone through,” said Chavez.

Education could be one reason why young people are delaying getting full-time jobs and taking on the responsibilities of being an adult. Some students who attend college decide to focus on classes and live at home to save money.

A third of people ages 26 to 33 possess a four-year college degree, which makes millennials the best-educated group of young adults in American history, according to statistics from the Pew Research Center.

However, many students, because they are pursuing an education, are not always required to be responsible for themselves and still have parental financial support.

Adults are generally identified as people who pay their own bills, handle their own problems and manage their lives. Chavez thinks people reach adulthood in their late 20s.

“They reach a higher level of maturity and realize their responsibilities,” said Chavez. “Also, they realize having fun [should happen] after you do what you need to do.”

Sheng Lee, a business major, believes she is one of the students that is in between being an adult and being a kid.

“At 18, we’re still in that high school stage,” said Lee.

She thinks if someone still depends on their parents, they have not reached adulthood.

Donelle Swain is a graduate student in social work who agrees that adults are no longer dependent on their parents.

“I think they’re reaching the age of maturity sooner, but they’re less mature,” said Swain.

She believes that people are adults when they reach the age of 18.

Swain feels that young people are sometimes more focused on themselves and do not view life through a bigger picture lens.

“They are more self-centered and consumer-minded more than being civic-minded,” said Swain.

Swain also thinks that one of the reasons why kids struggle to become successful adults is because they have fewer examples of what it means to be an adult.

“The sense of community has been eroding for a long time, and [young people] are not getting as much input for how to be an adult,” said Swain.

In less modern times, young people were taught early in their lives how to work, manage money and create the basis for a life. She mentioned the boy scouts as an ideal model for young boys to follow.

The boy scouts teaches a code of conduct with one of their main goals being to foster leadership qualities in young boys that will last them through their lives.

“Instead of boy scouts, they’re playing video games,” said Swain.