I’m giving some consideration for my son (currently junior in HS) to take a gap year before entering college. The reason for this is to simply give my son a nice refreshing break after years of doing practically nothing but hard work after hard work. I’d very much appreciate if you’d comment on the following questions I have:
How do colleges take gap year requests? Is it easy, kindly granted or discouraged?
What are typical reasons why students take a gap year between high school and college? Is it primarily to refresh and recharge, like what I have in mind?
Most importantly, how does taking a gap year affect financial aid package for siblings in colleges simultaneously? My oldest son will be a junior in college when my younger son enters college as a freshman AFTER taking a gap year. This means my two sons would be in colleges for two overlapping years. During these two overlapping years, the college expenses would be reduced because of two siblings in colleges simultaneously. Now, if my younger son enters college without taking a gap year, then their overlapping years is 3 rather than 2 years, meaning less college expenses. If my thinking is accurate here, then it’d be much better for us economically for my younger son NOT to take a gap year? I don’t know if my reasoning here is accurate or not. Once the overlapping college years is over, say, my older son graduates from his college when my younger son turns sophomore in college, how does the financial aid package work out for my younger son for the remainder of his college years, that is, go up? What if my oldest son goes off to graduate school? How does that factor into how financial aid packages are awarded for the younger son still in college?
The more years your two are in college together the better it is for you if you qualify for need based aid and they go to meet full needs schools.
Gap year reactions vary a lot. From great (many ivies) to you will have to reapply next year (certain state colleges including I believe UCs.) The general recommendation is to get accepted first then ask for the Gap year.
Reasons vary from study abroad to volunteering to mastering life skills to not getting in anywhere you want to go and reapplying the following year. You can only reapply if you do not accept anyplace that makes you sign a deferral agreement (basically saying you will not reapply during your Gap year). If you ask for a Gap year schools will usually ask what your plans are. There are some threads on here from prior years.
The one exception to the get in first rule is if you are wait listed, sometimes it makes sense to ask them at that point if they will accept you if you agree to defer. Does not usually work and could potentially hurt your wait list chances. If a Gap year is a definite, research school policy before you apply.
My guess is that the typical reasons in the real world are not the typical reasons on these forums. From what I have seen, the more typical real world gap year(s) between high school or college involve going to work or military service after high school and going to college later, often as a non-traditional student. The typical reasons for doing so appear to mostly seeing themselves as not interested in or ready for college immediately after high school, or not being able to afford college immediately after high school.
“The general recommendation is to get accepted first then ask for the Gap year.”
There are different strategies with different rationales and in some cases different financial consequences for applying to colleges before taking a gap year (and deferring admission) or applying during the gap year. We chose the latter because some of the merit aid and other scholarships (Tuition Exchange, in particular) that our son was potentially eligible for could not be deferred. So it worked out to his financial benefit to apply to colleges during the gap year rather than before. But it sounds like your situation involves questions of need based aid, not merit aid, and I think you may be right that having your kids overlap for three years would allow for more aid. OTOH, that is only true at colleges and universities that promise to meet need in full, and that is a small percentage of colleges–usually the most selective.
Another drawback to applying, accepting, and then deferring admission to take a gap year is that kids often change their minds about what college or major is right for them during the gap year. Our niece faced that situation and had to go through the whole application process twice as a result.
But having said all this, I am a strong supporter of gap years, and most colleges look upon them favorably. I think they give kids a great opportunity to recharge, grow, and mature before taking on the responsibilities of college.
@TiggerDad It’s definitely doable. I’ve know a few students who done a whole year or just a semester, similar to a semester or year abroad just different. I also know people who have chosen to take time off to travel, etc. after graduation before starting a career path.
Bottom line, it is perfectly fine to step off the hamster wheel and blaze your own trail for a little while. In fact, I highly recommend it. As the kids liked to say, YOLO.
Again, I would not be surprised if the most common reason for gap years or semesters during college is running low on money and having to work to earn money to pay for the next year or semester.
Some colleges build their curricula around co-op terms (off school while working, preferably at a job related to academic and professional goals), which is a more planned and structured version of this concept.
I was actually just on the phone with Tuition Exchange and was told that taking a gap year is most often fine.
For many schools - if you commit, pay the deposit and defer enrollment, the TE scholarship follows the student. For others the enrollment will be deferred, but the student has to compete for TE the next year with that year’s crop of students. This could be an issue with a school that has a lot of competition for the TE awards. If you look up the percentage of TE granted for the college on the TE website (which I was told will be updated and much improved in a year or so), you can gauge how much of a gamble that might be. You have to reapply for TE and other FA because the information from the next tax year is considered.
I was told the only school that flat out will not reconsider a student for TE is Case Western. As a test, I called Bucknell and was told that there the TE scholarship follows the student - so if the student gets accepted, gets TE and then defers (must pay deposit) they WILL get TE when they go the next year.
@TiggerDad, my daughter is finishing up her gap year now and it has been a tremendous experience for her.
When D spoke to schools during the admissions process about the possibility of taking a Gap Year they were totally fine with it. (These were all liberal arts colleges). She didn’t decide to take a Gap Year until June but it was always a possibility. In the meantime she made her choice and paid her deposit. She had already determined they would be fine with the Gap Year and she would keep her merit.They were completely fine with it and only asked that she check in in the fall to confirm she would still be attending.
D took it for a variety of reasons- to have an adventure before getting back to the grind, to develop independence, learn things she wouldn’t necessarily learn in a classroom. I really see it as a chance for her to gain more maturity before heading off to college.
I can’t speak to the FA issues. But as I said, it didn’t impact her merit aid which was important to us.
As far as planned mid-college time off, (we know kids/adults who have had to take time off to earn money, go to rehab, seek mental health treatment, etc, etc; that is different) I know at least one kid who turned her semester abroad into an extra semester off to travel and study a foreign language intensively. This kid is pre-med and I think she just saw it as a chance to do something completely different while she had the chance. Another kid I know took a semester off to do an amazing internship. He had already taken a gap year but this was a different great opportunity for him. And finally, yet another kid took his Senior year off to work on a national campaign at a high level. Then there are the many adults (myself included) who took time between college and graduate school to gain experience. There are so many different paths we can take and I am a big supporter of the windy road to success.
Gap years are excellent. I’d much rather have a student who has (A) had a little more life experience and (B) is at the university because they want to be, not simply because they just slid from one academic grind to the next without really knowing why they should do so.
I’m not serving on Admissions this year, but I am serving in Freshman Placement. The work produced by students with some non-school interest & experience is almost always more mature & compelling.