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Do your research. Attend a gap year fair, pick up books on the topic, check out resources at the Gap Year Association or meet with a gap year consultant.
MIND THE GAP Make the most of a year off from college
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• A gap year helps binge-watching Netflix? Students should “decide what is the purpose of the gap year, what are the outcomes you want, how you are going to achieve those outcomes, and then use that as a framework to design an experience,” says Joe O’Shea, an assistant vice president at Florida State University and author of Gap Year: How Delaying College Changes People in Ways the World Needs. The best gap year plans include a range of volunteer and paid work, career exploration and unstructured time, Knight says. There are programs available to help make gap years structured, adventurous and rewarding. Pricey programs can cost the equivalent of a year of college tuition, but you can design a gap year to fit any budget. Some colleges now provide scholarships designed specifically to help fund gap years, and industry programs awarded $4.2 million in scholarships and grants in 2016, Knight says. Students can also consider paid internships, temporary jobs or programs such as AmeriCorps.
— Mary Helen Berg
students fine-tune personal, academic and career goals.
• Most gap year students
graduate in four years, with 83 percent doing so with average GPAs of “B” or better, according to a Gap Year Association survey.
• Students can earn
college credit or cash through some programs.
8
Cons
• Not all schools will
defer financial aid when a student takes a gap year, Palmer says.
• Travel programs can be
expensive — up to $55,000 for a program that hits nine countries in nine months, Knight says.
• Your student may
experience FOMO (fear of missing out) when they see friends’ campus adventures on social media, according to Palmer.
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here are plenty of reasons students may not want to start college right after high school. Some may need to earn money for tuition, feel burned out, lack direction or have wanderlust. All make good gap year candidates, says Melissa Palmer, co-director of college counseling at Oakwood High School in North Hollywood, Calif. “It’s a great idea for everybody,” Palmer says. About 40,000 U.S. students will take a gap year sometime between high school and their junior year of college, a number that has grown 9.3 percent over the past few years, says Ethan Knight, executive director and founder of the Gap Year Association, a nonprofit that accredits and sets standards for gap year programs. If your children are considering a gap year, make sure they’re truly invested in planning it, and design a year that reflects their goals and interests, Knight advises. “The more that the student is the driver, the better the results,” Knight says. But how do you make sure your student doesn’t spend a gap year
8Pros