Son accepted ED2 to Tufts. We have a current freshman son at $60K+ school, and since we do not qualify for much FA, we would like to not have 2 kids in college for 3 years, as we would definitely need to take significant PLUS. DS happy to take a gap year - all 3 other kids took a gap year, one kid took two. My other kids eventually found gap yr jobs, but with just a HS diploma, it has become increasingly difficult to find interesting paid work. We live in a university town, and newly-minted COLLEGE grads from the local ivy as well as several other local colleges compete for the decent entry-level jobs, i.e. research assistant, etc. So we are open to him doing a full-time volunteer experience as we think that might be better for him than a job flipping burgers. (Though there are certainly lessons to be learned in low-skill jobs, this kid has done those each summer and I think he gets a lot of those lessons already).
Tufts apparently has a new, great 1+4 “Bridge” year experience, but…costs $28k-33k for the year. Tufts has corporate funding for FA kids, but not for kids who do not qualify for much FA.
Looking for gap year ideas that are not expensive. He speaks Spanish, really enjoys community service, and would be amenable to going elsewhere in the US or abroad. Do these exist or are they all “pay to play?” Thanks!
Americorps NCCC is a free option. Students even get a tuition voucher when they complete their year of service. It ends up being cheaper to have two kids in college because your EFC is reduced significantly per child with two in school. It’s also a better idea to have a kid do volunteer work than paid work. Their earnings will be counted as income, and student income is assessed and reduced by up to 50 percent–far higher than parent income.
No suggestions, but Tufts has a pretty serious language requirement so if he could beef up his Spanish that would be a plus.
You can look at helpx and workaway for work in exchange for room & board type arrangements worldwide. wwoof is another organization focused on organic farms.
Great, thanks for the suggestions. DS will get started looking at these options right away.
And dec51995, I THOUGHT that 2 in college would help us, but our FA situation is complicated, and like many, EFC is much higher than we could possibly pay. We are only qualified for a tiny amount of FA even with 2 in college (and Tufts offered it as loan and work study), so the fewer years of two in college, the better. Good point that child income is assessed higher than parental, so makes flipping burgers even a less appealing choice. However, if he does end up finding a paying opportunity that is worthwhile, he would be happy to contribute as his sibs have done.
Check out City Year. One of my DDs considered this, but it might be late in the application cycle. There are usually volunteer after school tutoring services in most cities that would likely welcome a Spanish speaker. Also check out idealist dot org for community service internship opportunities.
Take a look at the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. It’s a great program for a gap year, if you’ve got a kid who wants to travel abroad and volunteer with organic farmers or growers. I know two kids who did this program and both loved it. Agree with Mathmom–WWOOF would be a great place to get language experience that can help with Tufts’ language requirements . There are a number of Spanish-speaking countries that participate in WWOOF.
http://www.wwoof.net/welcome-to-wwoof/