Adulthood and Independence

It's tough to pinpoint one time when we become adults in our culture. The Somoans believe it's a continuous journey and everyone goes at their old pace. Nature says it's the time of puberty. We learned today that the average age that people are financially independent is around 27. We become legal adults at 18 and are legally responsible for our actions, but are we realyl adults? Could we really make it in the world? I guess if at 18 you had a full-time job, you could be independent. But that's not very realistic.
Tomorrow I'm visiting U of I, where I'll be going next year and will be expected to make my own decisions and balance my time. But am I an "adult"? Well my parents are paying for my education and odds are I'll be moving back in after gradutaion. True adulthood seems like a daunting idea, being truly independent, honestly, it's pretty scary. But I think that as time goes on we all learn enough to make it and be okay in our lives.