For me, living alone was crucial. I also dated someone through college, then started living together after, and one of the reasons I ended things was just the feeling that my life was being railroaded and I needed time to live alone and not be responsible for anyone. I lived alone for about 2 years before I met someone else, and now we are married. Those two years living alone were great, I matured a lot and grew into my adult self. It made me way more independent and interesting, bc before I would just go along with whatever my gf wanted. Towards the end it definitely got old, and I'm happy to be married now, but I definitely needed that time in my life.