Not everyone goes to college. And not everyone who goes starts immediately after high school.
Many students take what’s known as a gap year before attending college for a variety of reasons. While the practice is more common in the United Kingdom and other European countries, gap year interest is growing in the U.S., according to the nonprofit Gap Year Association.
Students may plan from the start of their college admissions process to take a year off after high school for personal growth and development, or use the time to work and save up extra cash. Others may take stock of their admission offerings and financial aid packages and decide they want to try their luck in the next application cycle.
As many students and families anxiously await delayed financial aid offers due to hiccups in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid process, taking a gap year could help give some students more time to weigh their college decision.
Regardless of why you take a gap year, it “could end up helping you financially … or not helping you, depending on the circumstances,” Karen McCarthy, vice president of public policy and federal relations at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, tells CNBC Make It.
If you’ve been accepted to a school and decide to defer your enrollment for a year, it will be up to the institution how your admission offer and financial aid package are handled. In many cases, you’ll still be required to pay an enrollment deposit in order to hold your place for the next incoming class.
You also may be banned from applying to other colleges if your place is being held at one school.
Ultimately, the decision to take a gap year will depend on your personal situation and family’s needs, but there are a few factors to be aware of if you’re planning to go to college after. These three gap year scenarios can impact your cost of attendance.
1. If you move to a new state during your gap year
Many public colleges offer discounted tuition for students who live in the same state. In fact, the average out-of-state tuition of $27,091 per year is nearly three times higher than the average in-state tuition price of $9,678, according to Education Data Initiative.
States and institutions determine what qualifies as residency within the state, and you or your parents may need to live in the new state for a full year in order to establish residency. Thus, moving into or out of a state during your gap year could potentially have implications for your tuition fee.
“If your family has recently moved into the state, you would not be considered an in-state student,” McCarthy says. “But if you took a gap year then at that period of time [when you enroll], assuming your parents are still in the same state, then you could be considered an in-state student.”
That could wind up lowering your tuition costs, or raising them, depending on where you’re moving and where you’re going to school. You could also potentially lose state-based financial aid if you leave the state that initially granted it to you.
2. If your or your parents’ income changes
You need to fill out a new Free Application for Federal Student Aid each year you want to apply for financial aid. Regardless of whether you apply for schools and file a FAFSA then decide to take a gap year or don’t apply at all, you need to fill out a new FAFSA when you’re ready to enroll, McCarthy says.
That means if you’re taking a gap year in hopes of receiving more financial aid, your parents’ income likely would have had to go down in the year prior to your gap year.
The FAFSA considers student and parental income — unless the student is a qualifying independent — from the “prior-prior year” to determine a student’s aid eligibility. Families filling out the FAFSA for the 2024-25 school year are using their 2022 income.
Students who want to take the 2024-25 school year off should consider their family’s 2023 income situation, since it will be the fiscal year used to determine aid eligibility for the 2025-26 school year.
If your income or other financial circumstances changed in 2023 from 2022, your aid eligibility could be different. The Department of Education has a financial aid estimator tool you can use to gauge how income changes may impact your eligibility.
3. If your dependency status changes
If your personal situation changes during your gap year, your FAFSA process could be different when you are ready to enroll. The FAFSA considers student applicants independent from their parents if they meet any of the following 10 criteria:
- You are or will be 24 years old by Jan. 1 of the school year for which you’re applying for aid
- You are married or separated and not divorced
- You’re working toward a master’s or doctorate degree
- You have children who receive more than half of their support from you
- You have non-child dependents who receive more than half of their support from you
- You are serving on active duty in the U.S. military
- You are a U.S. veteran
- Both of your parents were deceased or you were in foster care or a ward of the court any time since you turned 13
- You are an emancipated minor or in a legal guardianship
- You’re an unaccompanied youth who is homeless or at risk of being homeless
Students in any of these situations may not be required to provide their parents’ financial information on the FAFSA. As a result, if any of those statements become true for you during your gap year, you could see a different financial aid package than you otherwise would have.
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