(U-WIRE) LINCOLN, Neb. – Brenlie Gordon can vote and go to war, but the 18-year-old can’t see a doctor without her parent’s permission.

During a trip to the University of Nebraska Health Center, the Texas native learned she needed parental consent before seeing a doctor because she wasn’t an adult. Surprised, Gordon waited 20 minutes while nurses tried to contact her parents.

“That experience made me feel like a juvenile all over again,” said Gordon, a sophomore pre-nursing major.

In Nebraska, individuals under the age of 19 are considered minors. Although 18-year-olds enjoy certain rights given to them by the federal government, state law does not recognize them as adults.

Nebraska is one of four states where the legal age of adulthood is 19. Eighteen-year-olds in the state are not allowed to enter into legal contracts, pick up prescription medicines or go to certain nightclubs.

Tegra Straight, a freshman pre-medicine major, said she could not purchase a cell phone because it involves signing a one-year contract. Instead, she had to buy pre-paid service that cost her more money.

“As a college student I should be considered an adult,” she said.

Straight funds her own education and pays her car payment, but the car is not in her name. Her older brother had to sign for it because of her age.

“My name is nowhere on the title or contract,” Straight said.

“It is (absurd) to have to pay your own bills without having your name on it.”

Sen. Philip Erdman of Bayard said Nebraska’s current age of majority law is ridiculous.

“We allow them to go to war and vote, but 18-year-olds in Nebraska are not allowed to enter into contracts,” he said.

The current law makes it hard for 18-year-olds to rent an apartment or buy a car, he said.

Since 2001, Erdman has been working to change the current law.

Last April, Erdman sponsored a bill that would have changed Nebraska’s age of majority from 19 to 18. Erdman said he hoped the bill would provide more opportunities to young people in Nebraska.

– Angel Jennings