Hi
question, Senior Student Class of 2022, has been accepted to multiple schools, has a decent SAT score, but GPA is not great due to poor junior year due to COVID issues. Senior year is going very well and GPA will increase, would it make sense to take a gap year to have a higher GPA at end of Senior to increase merit offers? Have not received much merit due to GPA, but if the GPA was higher thinking merit offers would be more considerable. Would a college view a student differently if they applied after they graduate HS, and the GPA would be based on all 4 years of HS, or do they solely focus on the junior year?
You need to check the school requirements. Some merit awards are only given the year of HS graduation.
Also, if your kid takes a gap year and declines these admission offers, he or she will need to apply again to the colleges.
If he is asking for an enrollment deferral, you need to ask the college if merit aid will change. Keep in mind that many students have a change in GPA (one way or another) when their second semester senior year grades are considered.
So…you need to ask. At each college.
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Yep, agree completely with @thumper1. It seems like a high risk, low reward play. If it were my student, I’d just have them move on.
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Unless they are published automatic merit awards that are substantial, it is risky. Remember, you are basically swapping post graduate income for pre graduate income + possible merit awards.
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I don’t think merit awards increase after a gap year.
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But the student might choose to apply to schools for the following year that have larger merit awards for the GPA they have. There are students who have done this.
But…if the college acceptances are to places the student wants to attend and are affordable for the family, I agree it’s risky to think you will get more aid if you apply again next year.
This deserves emphasis. Savings, if they materialize will have a cost for the student.
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So this is true. There are schools with auto merit and you would have to scope that b4 applying. That’s the Murray States, Bama, Arizona, MS States and then others with big merit such as Miami Ohio, South Carolina, Mizzou, and more.
But a concern to highlight is many schools, due to budget or re-use of funds, are changing merit.
Some like my daughters school College of Charleston just flat out reduced it. Last year you could expect $8-12 per the website. This year it’s not listed and the max I’ve read about is $5. Colorado School of Mines is similar. Other schools are shifting to need instead of merit.
So what you see today you may not see in a year from now !!
The other thing we don’t know is…what level / type college have you applied to and what you are open to. There are colleges still taking apps and perhaps someone would use through at least mid year grades. Wouldn’t hurt to ask anyway.
I’m with @eyemgh and @Eeyore123 - this is a highly risky play and would also cost a year of higher paying income later for the unknown.
Love the schools that love you this year, assuming there is an affordable option !! And if there isn’t, there’s perhaps still time to find one that is!!
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If your child is into one or more affordable colleges he/she is happy to attend then I’d just move ahead and have him/her start college rather than re-do the entire process.
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What does your student want?
My D22 is beyond ready for college to start and would be devastated if we pushed a gap year.
However other students benefit greatly from a gap year. I have friends who are college profs and they say the kids who take gap years are usually much more mature.
If your student is on the fence it might be good to explore your options but I doubt if your merit would greatly increase. Have to dig into each college. Ask an Admissions Officer.
Some schools have cut offs for qualifying for merit aid. My daughter’s school had a chart and the gpa/score got you $x in merit. BUT, the score had to be received on an SAT/ACT taken before feb 1. If the gpa went up or down, the merit award could be adjusted (up or down), but taking another test didn’t change it.
That was several years ago when testing wasn’t available as often as it is now. I don’t know what they’d do for a gap year but suspect they’d apply the same rules as a senior would have had to live by.
Why don’t you ask if the merit at the schools he’s been accepted to could be adjusted with the increase in gpa?
It bears repeating- every year the list of merit schools changes, and usually not for the better. Either the auto awards get less generous, or the auto awards get converted to “leadership awards” requiring multiple new essays, recommendations, community service components, etc., or the merit programs get shifted to favor first gen students or some other population.
Do not look at this year’s schools “oh, he could have gotten X with the higher GPA” and assume that will be the case a year from now. The lists are dynamic.
Unless you guys have truly been stretched to the max with his current acceptances, I’d take the most affordable one- if it’s a school your son is excited about- and move on. It’s risky to think he can do better next year with a slightly higher GPA.
I suggested a gap year for prestigious music study abroad with a leading soloist on my kid’s instrument, so that my child could delay applying for a year, and would not be applying in the most competitive year ever.
So many students took a gap year the first year of the pandemic, that most of the highly selective institutions would only be able to take 80-85% of what they usually would accept, due to all the students from '24 gapping into '25. Kid said that they absolutely would not do this - they were afraid that they would lose academic momentum if they didn’t continue straight on through. Turns out that kid was right. They did well in acceptances, and they’re doing very well academically, plowing straight on through.
Let your senior move ahead on to college now. If money is that much of an issue, choose your flagship state U, or local public 4 yr college, or even a mad dash through community college and then on to flagship state U, but don’t have your senior delay college in the hopes of more merit money. It’s unlikely to happen, and your senior could lose academic momentum.
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