Not Sure What to Do About My Muslim Boyfriend Struggling to Wait

I, a Latina (21F), and my African Muslim boyfriend (24M) have been seeing each other since October of last year.

First, I am not associated with any religion. Before hearing about Islam I did not believe my beliefs aligned with a religion. But after learning of Islam I'd say my beliefs are closer to it. I'm not a convert, revert, nor muslim. I'm just someone whose beliefs are closer to Islam.

My boyfriend and his family are Muslim. His sister and brother know of me (6-7 years older than him). While his parents do not. We plan on getting married but currently we are both students at a University. I'll be a Junior this fall, while he'll be a Senior. I want to wait until I finish school to have sex (get married).

The problem is that he is not sure if he can wait until I graduate school for us to get married. For the two of us sex is associated with marriage

He wants to wait until he and are married and his parents approve of us.

But for some reason sex/lust has been on his mind since a month or two before Ramadan. During Ramadan he would text me how he was getting better. But after Ramadan it went back to him thinking about sex and thinking lustful thoughts. He and I are physical (hugging, kissing, hickeys) but sex is a whole different thing. He told me himself he doesn't like how thinking about sex is only getting to him. He doesn't know why he's like this with me when he's never had a problem with it. And honestly it hurts me to see how upset and confused he looks over this.

He asked me if it really kept bothering him if I would have sex. And I replied back saying how if it really came down to it then yes I would. But that I would not want him to feel guilty or regret ever doing it.

I do not like him staring at me as if he's questioning whether or not we should have sex. He really tries to hold back and I can tell he's trying his best to wait for me to graduate. He's been going to the mosque more, and still praying like always, but sex/lust still will not leave his mind and he's frustrated, confused on what to do because he can't stop thinking about it.

My question is what do I do? Sex is not on my mind all that much and I'm not exactly lustful. I can wait. But would it be okay to have sex with him? Would he feel regret and guilt after? Why is sex/lust on his mind so much? Should I continue to try and tell him sex isn't the option? I have so many questions but don't know how to ask.

As a virgin I'm also really scared of having sex. I hear the first time hurts for everyone. And I'm afraid he wouldn't like our first time, or my body and just leave.

P.S. We both live with our parents. I live under my parents roof. While he lives with his parents except he helps pay rent and other things when he can like groceries, phone bills, etc. Though he is taken advantage of when someone is in need of money. And his parents bash him about everyday. So could it be stress? Not sure. The possibility of him being kicked out IF we had sex is high (if parents knew).

TLDR: My Muslim boyfriend (24M) and I (21F) have been together since last year and plan on marrying in the future. We both associate sex with marriage, and originally I planned to wait until after I finish university. But lately he’s been struggling a lot with lust/sexual thoughts, which is confusing and upsetting for him because he says he’s never dealt with this before. He’s trying hard to wait, praying more, and going to the mosque, but he still feels conflicted.

He asked if I’d consider having sex if it kept bothering him this much, and I said maybe, but I’m scared of him feeling guilt or regret afterward since his faith is important to him. I’m also a virgin (so is he) and honestly scared of sex in general, especially the possibility of pain, regret, or him losing attraction afterward.

I don’t know what the right thing to do is. Should we keep trying to wait, or would having sex actually make things worse emotionally/religiously for him?