Her parents' culture and religion are in the way.

[farawaynow]

Her parents are of tamil culture, so she is constrained to either marry her cousin, or a man with "status" ( that's what they call it,aka cash ) of the same culture and religion, after the age of 23, from what I've read and what she told me.

First of all, you need to read up more about her culture. I bet she needs to learn more about her culture too in order to understand where her parents is coming from. She is from Indian culture and in their culture, it is normal to have prearrange marriage and it is also normal for her parents to expect their daughter to marry someone with a status.

If you seriously want to be with her, you need to understand more. Never be the one who takes her away from her family. She might regret and blame it on you in later stage of her life. Instead, respect her culture and try to earn the respect of her family too. Instead of sneaking behind her parents' back, try to visit and present yourself to the family as a friend. Let them know you first and let them know that you don't mean to bring harm to their daughter. Asian parents can be overly protective of their children especially a daughter. To them, if you are talking to her without their knowledge, it means danger. Of course, that doesn't warrant a beating. However, if a similar situation takes place in India, no one will bat an eye.

Be supportive of her finishing her education and at this age, as much as she is mature as you claimed, let her grow into a fine young woman before taking her away from her family. Ultimately, if you both love each other, give each other time to grow and experience life.

[differentcountries]

A good portion of the U.S. Population leave their homes at 18. I did. All my siblings did.

But that's not even the point. The girl in question is not 18, she's 15 and has already considered dropping out of school and running away from home. An uneducated 15 year old runaway is going to have a tough time in any country. So my advice stands- allow her to finish her education which allows her to become more independent and then, only when financially ready, she should prepare to leave her home.

But they were talking about doing this when she is 18, not 15. Then she will have finished her compulsory education and may also be eligable for education grants and loans that will enable her to study abroad. She will have three years to learn Romanian. If this is still what she wants to do three years from now and she was able to stick to that plan all through that time, she has already proven that she is more mature than most. If not then she just as might stay.