But can you believe it, there is a university that offers you a paid gap!
Some time ago, Middlebury College announced that it would give $10,000 to each student, in order to encourage students to delay the start of school!
Why is this so!?
Middlebury College wrote in an announcement:
We will provide a $10,000 stipend to 30 juniors and seniors who are on voluntary leave for the 2023 fall semester and winter semester (J-term). Students who are granted leave will receive this stipend at the end of December or mid-January. ”
This campaign is on a first-come, first-served basis, so just four days after the announcement was issued, 63 applications were received, and everyone's desire to get paid GAP was really positive.
Back to the original question, why did Centennial College make this announcement to delay the start of the semester?
Because during the pandemic, many students at Centennial College have chosen to take a break or delay their graduation. When these students return to campus, most plan to complete their entire studies in the winter of 2024.
According to previous years, there were about 2,500 students enrolled in Centennial College, but the number rose directly to 2,858 in the fall of 2021 and 2,773 in the fall of 2022. In the fall of 2023, it will even reach 2,845.
Therefore, judging from the data, the existing housing resources of Middlebury College can no longer meet the needs of a large number of students to return to campus.
In the midst of the pandemic, many schools are facing this situation, so how are they solving this problem?
The University of Vermont has resorted to renting dormitories from other schools, converting shipping containers into dormitories, and even placing students in the homes of local alumni
California State Polytechnic Humboldt sends students to a nearby hotel
The University of Utah is giving alumni $5,000 per semester in exchange for students living in their own homes.
With the example of these schools, Middlebury College has also made some improvements:
The dormitory could not be lived, so the teaching building was turned into a dormitory;
The school couldn't live there, so some of the students moved to the hotel;
If you can't live in the United States, you will be reimbursed for travel and let students go on an exchange.
But there are pros and cons to doing so.
For example, renovating a building in a school can cost a lot of money, make it difficult to construct, and add some safety measures to protect students. Some of the students who have been assigned to the bread loaf campus, ten miles away, will feel isolated from the school.
So Centennial College came up with this decision and paid students to take a gap year and return to school later. The $10,000 given to students is the cost of room and board for one semester at Middlebury College.
After the announcement of Middlebury College, it was also questioned by many parties.
The first to come up was the Middlebury College Student Union, which sent an email to the school leaders saying that students on vacation would not be able to enjoy Middlebury College's health insurance, nor would they be able to access medical care or counseling services, which was a big problem. What's more, many professors are concerned that the decision to take a leave of absence will have long-term academic repercussions for students.
Jason Mittell, a professor of film and culture, believes that the announcement was made in a hurry, and students did not have enough time to communicate with their professors about the impact of the suspension on their academic progress.
However, gap year itself is also a more controversial topic.
Some students take the gap year to the extreme, learning Xi various skills and participating in extracurricular activities to fully prepare for further study or employment. There are also students who are ambitious at the beginning of the gap, but in the end they find that they have achieved nothing, and the so-called gap is just a waste of time.
What do you think of gap year?Students who need our help in school selection, essay writing, interview coaching, study abroad application, etc., are welcome to consult at any time