"Almost half (43%) of high school seniors who haven’t yet committed to a college are considering a gap year, a recent LendEDU survey found.
Students are willing to wait for a full college experience: They don’t want to pay for Zoom classes or experience deserted campus life.
But gap years could shrink the incoming class and thus the tuition going to schools, and it might be difficult for students to have a productive gap year at home.
Even after graduation, many high school seniors are still uncertain about their college plans.
A recent LendEDU survey polled 1,000 Americans ages 17 to 25. Exactly half of these respondents were high school seniors; of that group, 59% said they’ve made a final decision that they would attend college in fall 2020 and submitted a deposit to the school of their choice. Among those high school seniors who haven’t yet committed to a college, 43% said they’re considering taking a gap year instead of enrolling for a fall 2020 start, the survey found." …
https://www.businessinsider.com/high-school-seniors-considering-pandemic-gap-year-2020-6
That is a very misleading headline. Of the 41% that haven’t committed to a school, how many wouldn’t go in a normal year? About 70% of high school graduates go directly into college. This link to the article should be taken down.
I would be much more interested in knowing of those who committed, how many are now wanting to change to a gap year. Students not yet committed planning a gap year is not really newsworthy given that admissions deposits were due by June 1 for the schools who extended the deadline, and much earlier than that for the schools who didn’t extend it. In a non-pandemic year, how many students who haven’t committed to a college by this time in June end up not starting in the fall? I have no idea, but I am going to guess it’s pretty high.
If someone wrote an article about the number of committed students who now want to take a gap year instead of starting in the fall, or those partway though their college years wanting to take a semester off, those statistics would be interesting.
I agree. The article was dated June 10. If a student hasn’t committed to a college by now, chances are they weren’t going to commit to a four-year school (at least for the fall). Although maybe some are on the fence about CC or trade school?
Our local CC held fall registration the first week of June, so students who aren’t registered will have a reduced selection.
Perhaps the survey was poorly worded and students who HAVE committed to a four-year college are still uncertain whether they will follow through and attend if classes are online or whatnot?
Agree the title is misleading. Will be interesting to see how many can actually take a Gap year. At some point, I believe, colleges will put the brakes on the actual numbers. Not to even mention what that means for the 2021 students.
Seems like the point of a Gap year is to travel, work or do something in the community. Many of those options are currently closed. While I can sympathize with students, they might feel a bit dumb if it turns out that school continues on with a few bumps and they missed an entire year.
Clickbait title to this thread.