“Gap year” comes to U.S. universities

live/study abroad — By Bob Riel on March 11, 2008 at 7:34 am

It has traditionally been more common among Europeans for students to take a year off between high school and college in order to travel or gain other real world experience. This has been popularly termed a “gap year.” Now, it seems, the option is becoming more popular in the U.S., as well, so much so that Princeton University is establishing a program that will enable students to spend a year abroad before starting college.

Seizing on students’ desire for a year off before college, Princeton University is working to create a program to send a tenth or more of its newly admitted students to a year of social service work in a foreign country before they set foot on campus as freshmen.

Princeton’s president, Shirley M. Tilghman, said in an interview that such a program would give students a more international perspective, add to their maturity and give them a break from academic pressures. She called it a year of “cleansing the palate of high school, giving them a year to regroup.”

Dr. Tilghman, speaking ahead of an announcement Tuesday, said that she hoped to begin the program in 2009 and that Princeton would not charge tuition for the year abroad, and would even offer financial assistance to those who needed it…

Growing numbers of high school students have opted to take a “gap year” before entering college, and many colleges offer one-year deferrals to students they admit…But experts say they believe that Princeton will be the first university to formalize such a program for entering freshmen, though many institutions offer study-abroad programs for students already on campus.