More students taking ‘gap year’ before college

Mauri Moskowitz and Erik Debbink didn’t feel ready for college.

Marie Jansen couldn’t afford it.

Kate Klein’s dream school stuck her on a waiting list.

All four recent high school graduates put higher education on hold to pursue other endeavors, placing them among the small but growing ranks of students who have taken a so-called “gap year.”

As high school seniors busily prepare college applications, now is a good time for some to explore the gap-year option.

It’s a path chosen by relatively few students, but educators, counselors and college officials say many more could benefit from “taking time off with a purpose.”

A new book on the subject says, “The benefits of a gap year include gaining confidence, focus and discipline.”

Other pluses: “Being able to bridge the gap between formal education and the real world, and building a resume that will put students ahead of their peers in appealing to employers or graduate schools,” the husband-and-wife team of Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson write in “The Gap-Year Advantage: Helping Your Child Benefit from Time Off Before or During College” (St. Martin’s Griffin, $14.95).

Although the number of “gappers” in this country is unknown, “it’s safe to say that at least tens of thousands take time off before or during college,” Haigler and Nelson write.

Their book, published this year, notes that a gap year is not for everyone but makes perfect sense for some. Consider Debbink, a 2005 high school graduate from the Cincinnati area.

A year ago, as friends submitted college applications, “I really didn’t have any idea what I wanted to do. I didn’t feel I was really ready for college,” the 18-year-old says.

He chose instead to join the AmeriCorps NCCC, or National Civilian Community Corps. Over a 10-month span, he and his team of about a dozen young people between the ages of 18 and 24 will work on several community service projects. Monday, he embarked on a four-week, disaster-relief project on the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. From there, he’ll assist with watershed rehabilitation in Oregon.

“I’m pretty excited,” he says from Sacramento, Calif., where he’s been training since September. “I don’t think I would be here if I didn’t have the support of my family.”

Indeed, perhaps the biggest hurdle can be parents who worry that students who veer off the traditional track might lose their way.

“I was a little hesitant at first,” says Debbink’s mother, Katrina Ward. “I was afraid if he didn’t go right on to college, it would be too easy to miss that altogether.”

But she realized Debbink’s motivation for school was lacking, and he needed a break. The more she learned about AmeriCorps, the more impressed she was. Her son will receive meals, lodging, health benefits, more than $4,000 in a living allowance and a $4,725 education award for college.

“I think this experience is going to help mature him and help him see a lot of situations that are very different,” she says.

In some cases, a student who doesn’t feel ready for college might simply require some reassurance that he’s capable of succeeding, says Susan Mosley-Howard, associate vice president of student affairs and dean of students at Miami University.

But “delaying the start of college may be just the thing that a student needs,” she says. “It allows them to obtain their grounding, decide what direction they wish to take, and feel confident in that decision. The fear that a child may not start college once they have delayed it is typically unfounded if the student truly desires to go.”

Marie Jansen, 19, a 2005 graduate from Erlanger, Ky., is determined to earn a degree. Her dream: Be a TV news anchor. She had moved into a dorm at Northern Kentucky University this fall, but her bleak financial situation forced her to leave before classes began. Her parents aren’t in a position to help pay for school, she says.

So she took a job in data entry. Her plan is to save money and enroll again next year, while continuing to work her way through college.

“At first, I was disappointed in myself, because I felt like I was starting to break away from my dream,” she says. “But I look at it this way: You do what you have to do to get there.”