<p>Why do people here seem to suggest gap year over community college for students who get shut out of college admissions (because they had no safeties on their application lists)? Seems that doing community college and then transferring to a four year school (e.g. the state flagship) is both more common and more sensible (financially and otherwise) for most than trying to hurriedly fill an unplanned gap year with something meaningful.</p>
<p>There are smart people who start higher education in community college.</p>
<p>If you frequent the financial aid section of this forum, you will see suggestions for a gap year over a community college for some students.</p>
<p>The best financial aid (merit and in some cases need based) is reserved for incoming freshmen. Transfer students are not eligible for scholarships for incoming freshmen. There are not a lot of schools that offer scholarships to transfer students.</p>
<p>So for a student who NEEDS financial aid, it is sometimes better to take a gap year, and apply as an incoming freshman to schools where merit or need based aid is more likely to be offered.</p>
<p>If a student goes to community college, in subsequent years they cannot apply as a new freshman applicant.</p>
<p>And in some states, there are programs that guarantee acceptance to state Uni after so many hours and guarantee that certain courses transfer…</p>
<p>Seems the main issue mentioned is that many scholarships are only available to freshmen, not transfers. A student who took gap year is still a freshman applicant for purposes of scholarship.</p>
<p>Almost all community colleges have articulation agreements with some four year school(s). This means that if a student successfully completes the cc courses, they will be accepted by the four year school and their courses will transfer in as well.</p>
<p>BUT this does not help with financial aid in many cases. There are some schools that have scholarships for SOME community college transfers. BUT by far, the most aid is given to incoming freshmen.</p>
<p>So…for example, if a student really knows the family can’t afford a four year college, AND they just didn’t apply to (or receive aid) schools that guarantee aid for kids with their stats, it is sometimes better to do a gap year and send out entering freshman applications the following year.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most important consideration is the student’s stats. The high stats kid has a much better chance of landing significant merit aid based on stats, so reconsidering the list and applying next season makes sense. The lower stats kids aren’t likely to get merit money anywhere, and aren’t likely to get into any of the institutions with good need-based aid, so the CC and transfer route is probably best. </p>
<p>If the high stats kids focus on merit-based aid, in many cases that is at big state schools where admission (and aid) is numbers-based so it really doesn’t matter what they do with their year off. They don’t need to try to come up with anything particularly “meaningful” so no extensive pre-planning is required at all.</p>
<p>As a practical matter, if the student NEEDS financial aid, would the parents want or be able to support a high school graduate who is neither in school nor earning a significant amount of money (assuming that s/he can only get occasional, possibly part-time, entry-level jobs that require no post-secondary education) to contribute to the household?</p>
<p>State universities (to which most community college transfers go) do appear to be about as generous with need-based aid for transfers as they are for frosh, although merit scholarships may be less common. (Of course, some, like those in IL and PA, are bad with need-based aid even for in-state students, but starting at cheaper community college may help some students who cannot afford four years at the bad-for-financial-aid state universities in those states.)</p>
<p>It depends on the gap year program too. In some cases, it’s a formal program (City-year maybe), that can mature a kid and provide a basic stipend. This can help the student figure out some goals and get a reality check before committing to an academic program. Some gap year programs are really about tightening up the basic academics before applying to an ongoing school. Some kids are just so tired of the push and stress of academics, that they need a different kind of experience before starting to spend Mom and Dad’s money on tuition. In many cases, a gap year isn’t just a year off but part of a program that a kid is answerable to. But it’s a vague term and some kids do use it to “bum around Europe?” But if a kid isn’t ready for college for a number of reasons, accruing CC credits with a weak GPA won’t help. Some kids even get accepted to the college of their dreams and opt to defer for a year to do something meaningful.</p>
<p>If the choice is between studying part-time at the CC while working (which is what most of the kids who have no money end up doing) and not studying at all while working (even at the same low-paying job) while applying to guaranteed merit guaranteed admit institutions and a couple of lottery but good aid institutions, personally I think it is a no-brainer for the high stats kid who just missed the app dates this year for those guaranteed merit guaranteed admit institutions.</p>
<p>I am a huge fan of community colleges. My own kid graduated from one last spring, and the cheap two years there has meant that her last two years at the state U are affordable. However, I recognize that for many of her CC classmates, completing their AA is a multi-year task because of money, and finishing up at her relatively cheap state U will be multiple years more because of money. A truly high stats student can save a lot of time and anguish over the long run by waiting and applying to places where there is lots of money.</p>
<p>My son took a gap year, but not because he was shut out of admission to his choice of colleges; instead he asked for and received an approved deferral.</p>
<p>I think there is a lot of value in taking a gap year: time to get off the auto-pilot treadmill and focus on one’s interests without distraction. My son taught himself programming and developed a few websites for paying clients. He had a chance to deal with both the joys of the technical side and the pain of dealing with some clueless or unrealistic clients. </p>
<p>Now, as he pursues his CS degree, he knows that it’s what he really wants to do for at least the next decade or so. Considering the enormous expense of changing one’s major halfway through college, I think this was time well spent.</p>
<p>To restate some ideas already mentioned.
I enourage a gap year for many students regardless of what colleges they were accepted to.
Both my kids were accepted to all the colleges they applied to.</p>
<p>They both knew by March of senior year that they wanted to take a gap year.
Get off the treadmill and begin college with a better idea that you are choosing to do so rather than just blindly following the next step.</p>
<p>Financial aid options are limited for transfer students.
A purposeful gap year can bring new perspective and possibly a better idea of what schools are a good fit and can add choices.</p>
<p>Im also a fan of community colleges and I know that some have wonderful programs and profs. For a student who does better immersed in their studies however and for whom has trouble with transitions, they may do better taking a year off instead of livingoff campus- perhaps even still at home with their parents.</p>
<p>For students who want to “aim a little lower” and cast a wider net AND intend to apply to private colleges the second time around, going to a CC means that they will be applying as a transfer student, not a freshman applicant, and that would lower their chances of acceptance considerably, since many private colleges have much lower acceptance rates for transfer students than for freshman applicants.</p>
<p>In our county, 65 percent of students starting college start at our community college. Most of them do not have aspirations of attending top 50 universities.</p>
<p>The CEO of the company I work for (a biggie) went to a junior college, followed by a 2nd (if not 3rd) tier mid-western public. Did her MBA in night school, also not anywhere of note. She’s a respected multi-millionaire now. </p>
<p>It ain’t where you go… but what you do with it…</p>
<p>Our CC is as expensive as some states 4 yr schools. It is difficult, but not impossible, to access via public transportation. We are a direct commuter train ride to Drexel, Temple and a few other schools. For a good stat student, the CC will not be the best value. It would be better for a student to try for a strong merit package at Drexel or Temple. </p>
<p>That said, certain majors (arts, nursing) are much better at our CC.</p>
<p>Aside from the cost issue, I think a Gap Year could be good to simple distance the emotion and high school peer group “status” aspects of college. The application process is stressful and combined with AP courses, ECs and normal teen drama, sometimes a step back can help the kid focus.</p>
<p>In high school, many students who are planning on college often take AP or community college courses, sometimes both but usually one or the other.</p>
<p>Community college does not give credit for AP courses while the local public university usually does. The local public university also will give credit for CC courses as long as college transferable, but because of limited space, may not admit as many students with a two yr AA certificate as in years past.</p>
<p>A student like my oldest, for whom our EFC was roughly the same as COA at a local college, did well to take a year off and add a school that met full financial need.</p>
<p>I think it would have been much more difficult if she had been a transfer student, not only is the school need aware, but freshmen all take the same course that is an integral part of the curriculum. </p>
<p>But for a friend, who was taking community college courses to fulfill high school graduation requirements, it made sense to complete the AA certificate and transfer to a university that offered merit aid, as he didnt qualify for need based, but he then saved quite a bit of tuition money & his diploma read the same as if he had begun as a freshman.</p>
<p>But if you go that route you may need to cast your net just a little bit wider since schools have limited transfers.</p>
<p>But, realistically, how many of the students who got shut out were those who (a) would have gotten the automatic big merit scholarships, (b) knew they existed, but (c) did not apply because of various non-academic reasons (e.g. not wanting to go to a school in the south, not wanting to go to a school filled with (what they see as) “rednecks” or black people, etc.), and (d) would reconsider applying to such schools during a gap year after getting shut out?</p>
<p>It really seems like PA’s public universities and community colleges are doing a poor job at being financially accessible to students from low income families. Then again, some posters here seem to prefer it that way, based on resentment against financial aid given to students from low income families. Perhaps that is PA’s intended policy.</p>
<p>Well, our D did attend CC in our state when she was forced out of HS after JR year. It was one of three paths we saw readily available to her and she didn’t voice any interest in a gap year. The other options would have required her to enroll in HS and take an unspecified period of time to graduate (if she ever could with her frequent and prolonged absences). There wasn’t as much angst in the decision as all of us feared there would be. In our state, CC is currently $2328 + $1k more for books. For flagship U, it’s $4332 steadily rising each year. You have to double the figures because they are quoted by semester. Still
It’s much cheaper than her private HS and dream U were. </p>
<p>For some, gap years are great. S was fortunate to have an involuntary gap between college and starting his job, when he was waiting for his security clearance and orientation. He enjoyed that time–experiencing LA as a non-student, travel on his own, finding a place to live, moving his gear, enjoying leisure time. It was great for him and us. </p>
<p>Neither of our kids were particularly interested in a gap year between HS and college. CC is a great option for some kids, while gap for others.</p>