Financial Insider: Pros and Cons: Should You Take a Gap Year?

Preparation to pay the lowest possible amount of money for college and get the maximum return on that investment could start in middle school. That is a reasonable time to begin conversations about what kind of expectations you and your student have about their future college years.

You already know college is very expensive. If you’re a parent with more than one student going to college, you could seriously impede your ability to retire the way you want. The stock market goes up, but it also goes down and often just when you need the money most. That’s why looking at all options early can help manage those expectations on both sides and help you and your student to make the best possible decisions.

The longer parents delay, the older the student becomes, the less influence parents have on their student’s college choices. I’ve seen more than on students who declined full ride scholarships. just because it wasn’t their “first choice.” Granted, this is an extreme example, but it does happen and believe it or not, many parents (not you, of course) feel emotionally bound to honor their child’s dream.

But, before you get to making the decision about where to go, what about the option of not going?

Please bear with me here. Too many college students graduate clueless about the real world. Few graduate with any real marketable skills. Nothing differentiates them from the pack. Suppose there were a way to maximize the benefits of your student’s education and enhance their career possibilities which also insures the financial investment you will make.

In the United States, very few students take what is known as a gap year. A gap year is doing something else to learn and mature before college. Not going straight to college may sound like a radical idea, but did you know that in many other cultures students don’t immediately rush off to college?

Certainly, not every student is going to be “college ready” after high school, and there is no need to force it. Some just need a little more time to mature, and waiting a year or two could be just what’s needed. I’m not talking about taking a year off. I’m talking about taking a year on.

There has been much written about gap years, but most families aren’t fully aware of this option, or haven’t really considered the benefits. Something to think about.