I have searched this forum for an answer to this topic and have found a lot of useful information, but most of it seems to be geared at students who know they want to go to college, they just want to take a gap year first. This allows them to narrow down school choice and enroll and then defer.
Our daughter is thinking of going to college, but is still exploring career options and a few of those would not require a 4 year degree. She wants to take a gap year to gain some clarity here before spending a lot of money on school… which I think is wise, but worry about the implications for her to get scholarships.
Is it still the case that it depends on the school or the organization whether a student is disqualified for a particular scholarship if they don’t apply while in high school? Is there no general answer as to how this will effect her? I am worried she is shooting herself in the foot by taking a gap year and getting disqualified for aid (merit based), but at the same time being forced into a decision to go to university isn’t good either…it’s hard for her to call the specific school and check their policy because she doesn’t even know if she wants to go that route… let alone which schools to target. Thoughts?
I don’t think taking a gap year would disqualify her from any merit scholarships offered by the colleges themselves SO LONG AS she does not take classes. (She does not want to be considered a transfer because then she would not be eligible for scholarships offered to incoming freshman.)
If she is accepted and defers then she can make arrangements, but if she applies in her gap year she may well be shut out when the criteria is HS straight to college, we have found this even in my kids small pool of applications in the gap year application. For us the instate tuition is the advantage of the gap year, and the gap year was about an ill-timed relocation rather than an existential crisis. But yes, being shut out of freshman scholarships is very possible. And other scholarships, corporate family scholarships for example.
First off, be realistic about the possibility of merit scholarships. Does she really have the grades and test scores for those at the places that would be on her list? If so, then she can investigate the specific policies. Yes, some are restricted to students who are coming directly from high school. Some aren’t.
But if she doesn’t have the profile to land that kind of scholarship at those places, she should stop worrying about it and can move forward immediately with the gap year plans.
Some scholarships have a time limit. Florida Bright futures must be started within two years of graduating from high school, but also have to be applied for at high school graduation. There are exceptions for military service and religious missions. There are also limits to taking breaks once you start school.
The scholarships at my other daughter’s school were for 8 consecutive semesters.
Otherwise, as noted above, taking any college courses after high school graduation risks losing eligibility to apply as a frosh (versus transfer), though the exact limitations vary from one college to another.
Another example: “Only incoming first-year students accepted to the Honors College and coming directly from high school with no gap year may apply. Students who receive the scholarship can still apply for deferral and any deferrals will be honored…” https://honors.utah.edu/admissions/eccles-distinguished-scholarship/
It may be worth applying to some colleges that allow for admission to be deferred if they offer scholarships like this. Applications may also be simpler to organize (e.g. getting recommendations, transcripts, etc) while still in high school. If she decides not to come back after the gap year, you’ll only lose the deposit.
And Utah is so specific because of mormon missions, a gap year holiday or some fluffy reason might not cut it for a deferral even if students asks. Eccles is for high stats/very high stats, so the sort of student that gets that scholarship is likely to be a very serious student.
@Twoin18 : How is a deferral different than a gap year? When I Googled “gap year vs. deferral,” nearly every return used the terms interchangeably. (I realize you did not create the wording in the comment above, but it is that precise wording which confounds.)
Deferring means you get your admission in your regular high school application round and defer starting hence your gap year, i.e not applying in your gap year.
I’m not sure that answers my question about the construction of the quoted passage, though it addresses what I already knew about a gap year pertaining to those students who have ‘come straight from high school,’ been accepted into a program and then deferred their first year of attendance.
A gap year without a college acceptance in hand seems to need its own term at this point in time with the mix of sponsored, funded and/or structured gap year programs abounding.
It just seems that the language in the referenced statement falls back on itself.
“A gap year without a college acceptance in hand seems to need its own term”,
Agreed (the term “non-traditional” may be used for post HS applications but in that context you tend to think of students who have taken multiple years to work before attending college).
I think that’s what OP was asking about, and whether it would put the student at a disadvantage vs an acceptance and deferral. There are clearly disadvantages to going this route regardless of scholarship eligibility because it’s harder to organize the applications once out of high school, and they may interfere with some planned gap year activities like travel (unless you need extra time for applications that would be more readily available in a gap year, e.g. applying to numerous audition based dance/music/theater programs). OTOH not all schools permit deferrals, for example the UCs.
It has been my experience that students who gain an acceptance with merit and then defer admissions, forfeit the merit. You are always eligible for need based financial aid if you have a financial need and defer your admissions.
It is not unusual for schools to limit scholarship to incoming freshmen from high school because those are the numbers that eventually get reported and affect their rankings. High school are also evaluated on their 4 year graduation rates and students attending college immediately after high school (students taking time off, then applying to college are outliers). A student who has been accepted to college and defers is still counted as attending college as part of the post secondary plan and does not negatively effect the high school.
Op’s question is school specific. There are over 4000 colleges in the country. Op and Op’s D will have to do their own research in applying to schools where she can receive merit after having a break in college.
Both of my children did gap years. In both cases the schools deferred their admission. There was no need to apply again. In my second child’s case he had merit and need based aid. The merit aid was deferred. The need based aid was recalculated, just like they do every year.
I know this is not true at every school as I had done some research at the time. One other point. Some schools allow you to defer and also receive some college credit during the deferral period. This may be less common, but both of my children received college credit during their gap year. One note is that it was not credit they just took at another college, but rather part of a gap year program overseas that consisted of volunteer work and some classes.
Or just keep “gap year” as the more generic term, but use something like “gap year with deferred enrollment” to describe a student who matriculated to a college but will defer enrollment for a year.
Also, many students’ gap years are just working to earn money to help pay for college, rather than some structured program.