Some people take a year off because they don’t have enough money to pay for their post-secondary studies. By working full-time, they can save substantial amounts of money and thus decrease the amounts of money they need to borrow. However, even if they do have to borrow a lot, they are going to end up with a better paying job upon graduation. Why waste a year making 5-10 thousand dollars when you could be in university, graduating a year earlier, and thus having an extra year of work at a high paying job? If it were me, I would borrow the money because I could quickly pay it off after graduation.
Other people want to take a year off to travel. I know at least two people doing this. It sounds like fun and it usually is. But universities offer study abroad programs and they are often cheap and student-friendly. If you can spend a year earning credits and traveling at the same time, why not do it?
One of the biggest problems with taking a year off is a lack of motivation when the year is up. Many students have found that when the time comes, they just can’t bear to go back to class. They end up getting married and spending the rest of their lives at lower paying jobs for highschool grads. They could have had a much better job if they had earned a post-secondary degree.
However, some students just don’t feel ready to dive headfirst into the unforgiving waters of university or college. They need a year to think, to figure out where they want to go and what they want to do with the rest of their lives. If they are so unsure, perhaps it is a good idea to take the year off, rather than wasting a ton of money and then deciding they don’t even want to pursue their chosen degree. Taking a year off also gives them ample time to fill out scholarship applications and other such time consuming papers.
One other note to consider- if you wait a year to apply to a university or college, you have much less support from your school. For example, you don’t get free transcripts if you wait a year and you don’t have the help of a counselor when you are faced with tough post-secondary choices. You
