Reply to Affordable Gap year ideas for modest income families?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Don't do a program.

They get a job and work from home and save the money from that job for half the year. During this time, they can visit friends at nearby colleges on the weekend, take classes (not even necessarily academic classes -- take a dance class, a painting class, whatever), and also do regular family dinners plus contribute at home. Job does not need to be full time and doesn't need to be drudgery -- point is to make some money and be productive, but they don't need to support themselves.

For second half of year -- some travel, including some time abroad if they are interested and the money works. Also some free time and relaxation, maybe a family vacation that coincides with your schedules, maybe a personal project related to their interests.

The point is to tailor it to what they want and need. Do they need a break? Amp up down time and non-academic matters. Are they itching to travel? Take a language class and then travel to a country where that language is spoken. Is this a time to figure out what they want to do? Focus on maybe an internship in an interest area, visiting friends at different schools to get a feel for it, etc.

Those gap year programs are for bored rich kids who have to have everything planned for them and aren't creative. Even if you were wealthy, I'd suggest having your kid do something like I outline above, but sub in volunteer work instead of working for pay, because the point of a gap year is personal growth and taking a breath between academic endeavors. It's not about a ready-made packaged program. That's what college is![/quote]

Taking random classes for fun and traveling abroad IS a rich kid’s gap year.  [/quote]

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