My son was born to my hubby (but not to me...I came later) when he was just 18. He needed a lot of support at first when he was still so young and going through college. But he didn't stay young. He finished college (and a fine one at that) while being a young dad and as he got older and became more of a man, he became more and more independent as a parent until he no longer needed his parents to help him any more than by being loving grandparents. When he got his first real post-college job, he bought a little (1100 sq. ft) house that he and J lived in until we got married and he sold it and we bought the house we've been in ever since. Successful, living the American dream, we're younger than most other parents around us, but really no one cares one bit how old he was when J was born. And J's childhood memories are the ones of the his dad as a grown man and an independent father-- he doesn't remember the young boy who needed help. The whole you'll-never-get-anywhere-saddled-with-a-kid line is baloney.
Of course, there are differences. Hubby (and later I) did not get those twenties carefree with no responsibility and lots of freedom. We were parents with huge obligations, no matter how young we were. We didn't get the honeymoon years of being just a couple, we were co-parents from day one. Our plan is to make up for it by still being pretty young when the kids are grown and out and THEN we'll be crazy and carefree.
It's not the same as not having a kid and going to college. But then, it won't be the same when you have all the freedom when you're old enough to really know what to do with it, while your friends are still in the middle of raising kids.
It's a tradeoff of timelines and priorities, but in the end it's just chronology, not about missing anything entirely.