What is a gap year and why is it becoming popular for high school students? Should you try it or let your kid try it?

What is a “Gap Year?” Actually, it’s the new term for taking off a year after high school but before college. Sound fun? Not if you think it’s for slackers.

A gap year is intended to help kids get a better grasp on the real world after high school. Three months off before you start college isn’t enough for some. This “gap year” idea can give college students a better attempt to manage money and graduate in the typical 4 years. Unfortunately, only 37% of freshmen complete the 4-year degree according to the Education Trust of Washington, DC.

Some students volunteer, travel abroad, or intern. This work can cost money, but in some instances, make the students money. Americorps.org offers a good source for volunteer work. Interimprograms.com tries to match students with an intern program that matches their career goals. If you want to travel and learn about a foreign country before you start school, then you should check out whereyouheaded.com.

William Fitzsimmons of Harvard co-wrote an article about “Time out or burn our for the next generation.” He discusses why letting kids devote time to their own pursuits gives them a break from the stress of high school.

Who pays for this “gap year?” Well, it depends on what your students do. Some programs pay the students, while others expect payment for your kid’s hiatus. Some parents do an equal share savings for the gap year.

What about financial aid? Usually, you’ll have to reapply. It’s a good idea to get accepted to a college first, and then ask for a deferment.

What about getting behind? Sure, you might get behind a year with your peers, but think of a nice conversational piece you’ll have to discuss on your resume while your peers have nothing.

Some see the gap year as an opportunity for education, but others see it as procrastination. It’s not for everyone, just as college isn’t for everyone. With proper planning and guidance, it could make college more bearable and more rewarding.

Stuart Simpson

BS Finance

7 hours towards his MBA
http://www.college-degree-review.com/
http://www.medical-school-review.com/

College applicants often have an obsession with getting good grades and this leads to an absence of extra-curricular activity that really shows who they are.

Colleges have been reviewing far too many applications recently that show students are addicted to getting good grades which means they are continuously sacrificing the time to figure out what extra-curricular activities interest them. These students are becoming more and more robotic in a greatly increasing competitive atmosphere. Although a student's academic career is the main focus of the applicants, the problem lies when the college has to figure out what to do when they have too many applicants with a grade point average of 3.8-4.0. There have been several circumstances where the student with the 4.0 does not get into the college and student with the lower grade point average does.

Of course colleges are looking for those students who can do well academically, but they also want their students to come with a certain energy towards innovation. They want their students to be able to contribute creatively and receive some sort of recognition eventually. Basically, colleges need those students who can go beyond expectation. They need the students who have a love in life beyond academics. They need students who can excel outside of the classroom; at sports, volunteer work, dancing, traveling, and the list goes on and on. These students also need to be able to present this in a 4-8 page college application. Now, how do you do this? How does one go about preparing for this task?

It is very important that a student do two things while also maintaining a good grade point average. They must have personal time to themselves to breathe and relax and they also have to commit to something that they love to do outside of the classroom. The students who stay committed to one activity for three years show a much stronger level of commitment and motivation than the student that who participates in twenty activities for a short period of time. However, the students who participate in two or more activities for two or more years show even more potential than those with only one.

When colleges get applications that show various extra-curricular activities with no connection to each other, they question them. Some of these applications will have all different kinds of activities like "one month volunteering at a homeless shelter, three months at a vet hospital, 6 months in dance lessons" etc. Although these applications are full of extra curricular activities, these students show questionable motivation and a lack of commitment. This may simply mean that the student participated in the activities for the sole purpose of filling up that page in the college application. Sometimes these assumptions are clarified in the student's essay but there are times when they are not and this does not look good for the applicant no matter what his or her grades are like.

Students should always keep in mind that colleges want those students who can think critically. They want the student who can pursue an idea, not the one who simply follows the rules and meets criteria. Colleges want the student who can think outside the box.

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Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to College

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A degree level education is probably the most expensive single cost in bringing up children today. Unless parents take action early the chances of their children graduating without substantial debt are minimal - that's if they can afford to go to college at all.

Did you know that the cost of a 4 year degree program is around $20,000 dollars per year.

The cost of a college education is probably the most expensive item in bringing up children today. When you take into account tuition fees, exam fees, living expenses, accommodation, books and computers it's not surprising that the average cost of college education is over $20,000 per year and that's before the social side of college life.

Today we live in a world where only the best educated and most prepared can succeed. The Job market is probably the most crucial and competitive element of our society and having a college education and degree goes a long way towards succeeding in it.

When our children are ready to enter the world of work it will be even more difficult and a college education will be essential to succeed. Here are 5 ways to fund your child's college education.

1. The usual method of parental funding of college education is out of current income, that is out of your weekly or monthly salary.

Whilst this is the most common method of funding college education it is one that only the very rich or highly paid can afford to do with ease. Even if there are 2 salaries most families find it difficult and will require sacrifices, even more so if you have more than 1 child. At best most parents can only afford to contribute part of the costs of college education out of current income. Additional sources of income will be required.

2. Your child can work his or her way through college.

Many students have to work whilst studying but many find the experience of juggling a job, lectures and a social life very difficult. Often the result is that students drop out of college education, fail their exams or don't do as well as they could.

3. Your child may have the opportunity to take out student loans to fund their college education.

Today the vast majority of students are forced to take out student loans to fund all or part of their college education. Usually to subsidize parental contributions, student loans are the most common way of students funding their own college education. Many students however, leave college with substantial debt and even with interest rates at historically low levels today's students can expect to have to pay substantial monthly repayments for many years.

4. Your child may obtain a scholarship or be entitled to grants from either federal or local funds towards the cost of their college education.

There are many sources of student scholarships or grants and with a bit of research most students today can find some grant funding. These sources however cannot be guaranteed for the future. Whilst scholarships and grants do not have to be repaid and as such are preferable to loans they are not guaranteed or predictable and therefore relying on them for our children is a risk.

5. Take out an education savings plan to fund college education.

An education savings plan is a regular saving plan into which you and your children can contribute. The plans are administered by colleges or state authorities and can be taken out for any child including a newborn babies. Because of the effects of long term compound interest the earlier you take out your plan the easier it will be and the lower your contributions will be. Because the funds are built up prior to going to college students do not have to rely on scholarships, grants or loans and they can concentrate on their studies.

There are a number of options to fund your child's college education but the only way funds can be guaranteed is by you taking out an education savings plan. With the education savings plan you decide what you can invest and your child can also contribute to his or her college education. With luck scholarships and grants will still be available as will loans to top up if necessary. If your child does not go to college the fund can be cashed in.

Taking out an education savings plan early will give your child the real opportunity of a college education and the best prospects for a job when they leave college.

John worked for many years in insurance and finance and recently completed a degree in Creative Writing. He now writes on a number of topics including education. For more information on college financing go to Grants and Scholarships or go to In Education for a selection of articles on education for all ages.

Following the tragic events of 9/11 there is today a much greater awareness throughout society about such issues as homeland security, airport security, public safety and management, international terrorism, criminology and criminal psychology and many other related subjects.

Following the tragic events of 9/11 there is today a much greater awareness throughout society about such issues as homeland security, airport security, public safety and management, international terrorism, criminology and criminal psychology and many other related subjects. Interestingly these are all subjects you can major in or obtain specializations in through degrees in criminal justice/criminology. And more interestingly, such a degree in criminal justice/criminology can get you a job a lot more easily than a degree in a number of other subjects. This is because the US Bureau of Labor Statistics has identified careers in criminal justice as one of the top five careers in the coming years in terms of future job opportunities.

You can get degrees in criminal justice/criminology from both traditional schools as well as online schools. If you are a working adult, online courses will suit you a lot more than a traditional program since to complete an online program you do not have to give up your job or relocate or disrupt your life in anyway.

More importantly, if you are a working adult already working in the field of criminal justice, an online degree will get you that much coveted promotion or switch to a more well paying job. You can also get a degree much quicker than through the traditional route as most online criminal justice/criminology programs allow you to take credit for your working experience or any on-the-job training that you may have gone through.

A degree in criminal justice/criminology will open up many different careers for you at the local, state or federal government level as well as in the private sector. You can also get teaching jobs in various colleges and universities if you have a master’s or a PhD degree in criminal justice/criminology.

Within the broad field of criminal justice/criminology you can specialize in different fields such as criminal justice administration, criminology, criminal and business law, court procedures, policing, corrections, juvenile justice, domestic violence, court report writing, private security, homeland security, public safety and management, economic crime and fraud management, cyber crime, paralegal studies, forensic science, crime scene investigation etc.

Depending on your major or specialization, a criminal justice/criminology degree in any of these areas will make you eligible for jobs in local, state or federal law enforcement, law firms, agencies such as the FBI, banks and insurance companies, corrections facilities, law courts, organizations responsible for public safety and a host of similar organizations. The salaries in these careers are also quite attractive with median salaries for such careers being around $40,000 a year.

Jim Greenberg recommends you visit the Online Criminal Justice Degree Guide for more information on criminal justice careers and salaries.

To put it succinctly, the difference between an accredited criminal justice school and a non-accredited one is while the degree you get from the former is valuable and can get you a job, a degree form the latter is worthless and is unlikely to get you anywhere.

To put it succinctly, the difference between an accredited criminal justice school and a non-accredited one is while the degree you get from the former is valuable and can get you a job, a degree form the latter is worthless and is unlikely to get you anywhere.

Undoubtedly, therefore, one of the most important considerations at the time of deciding which criminal justice school to go to is whether the school is accredited or not. Of course, there are problems here because there is something called institutional accreditation and programmatic accreditation. If a school is institutionally accredited then the entire school is accredited and all its programs are accredited too. But if a school has opted for programmatic accreditation then some of its programs may be accredited while the rest may not be. For example, a school’s technology programs may be accredited but its criminal justice program may not be accredited. So, when checking for accreditation you have to make sure that either the entire school is accredited or that at least its criminal justice program is accredited.

Accreditation is primarily concerned with checking whether a school or its program is maintaining certain minimum academic standards or not. It is done by a host of bodies but the US Dept of Education grants funding to only six regional accrediting bodies and 2 others that are spin-offs of two out of the six RA bodies. Hence, accreditation by any of these eight agencies is what you should look for.

Each of these eight accrediting bodies has a specified jurisdiction. They are authorized by the US Dept of Education to grant accreditation to schools falling within their jurisdiction. Hence, if a school wants to get accreditation it must approach the accreditation body that has the authority to grant it accreditation.

Degrees from accredited schools are accepted and recognized throughout the country. If you want to transfer from one school to another and want to transfer credits earned in your previous school to your new school, then accreditation helps. If your new school is an accredited one, it will allow transfer of only those credits earned in another accredited school. If the credits you have earned are from a non-accredited school they cannot be transferred.

Just as accredited schools do not recognize degrees and credits earned from non-accredited schools, so do employers. Employers do not recognize degrees earned from schools not accredited by any of the eight bodies authorized by the US Dept of Education. Such degrees are thus, worthless pieces of paper.

While all 100 per cent of accredited schools will recognize degrees from other schools accredited by the eight bodies mentioned above, only 30 per cent of accredited schools may accept accreditation from a few other new bodies. But this depends and it is, therefore, a big risk if you are getting a degree from a school not accredited by the eight bodies we have talked about but is instead accredited by some other body.

Accrediting bodies review the accreditation granted to schools periodically. A full- scale site visit review happens every ten years with 5-year progress reports in between. These are peer review site visits and very stringent – a school must really be up to standard to get accreditation. This means a certain minimum standard of education is guaranteed if you enroll in an accredited school. A non-accredited school doesn’t guarantee anything at all.

Jim Greenberg recommends you visit the Online Criminal Justice Degree Guide for more information on accredited online criminal justice programs.

With the prices for a college education increasing each and every year, having the money for college is very important.

Many years ago, the prices for a tuition were a lot lower than they are now, which goes to show just how much they have climbed over the past several years. Years from now, you can expect college tuition to climb even more, making money very important. You can get money for college several different ways to help you pay rising costs.

One of the most popular ways to get money for college is scholarships. You can get a scholarship in high school, simply by paying attention and achieving good grades in your classes. Then, when you graduate, you may receive a scholarship that will pay a good chunk of your expenses. You may need to pay for books, although that isn’t too expensive. You can also apply for financial aid, which will give you a loan to pay for your college tuition and expenses.

Financial aid is great to have, especially if you don’t have a lot of money. This money for college is in the form of a loan that you will have to pay back. You can wait until after you graduate, then start paying the money back. This way, you’ll have your money for college and your education; using the skills you were taught to make more than enough money to pay back your loan. Most colleges will allow you pay over the course of several years, giving you more than enough flexibility and time to pay back what you owe.

If you’re already in college, you can get the money for college by working a part time job. Those of you, who have decided to wait a bit before going to college, can work a full time job to get the money you need. This way, you can pay for your education one semester at a time. Even though college tuitions are high, they don’t really have to be. With scholarships and financial aid, you can get the college training you’ve always wanted – without having to worry about money for college.

Any or all of this article about money can be used if Oklahoma Lottery is included.

A bachelor's degree, also called a baccalaureate, is a campus or online academic degree awarded by a college or university for the successful completion of an undergraduate course or major. A campus bachelor’s degree can take up to four years to complete, while an online degree can be completed within a much shorter period.

A bachelor's degree, also called a baccalaureate, is a campus or online academic degree awarded by a college or university for the successful completion of an undergraduate course or major. A campus bachelor’s degree can take up to four years to complete, while an online degree can be completed within a much shorter period.

The importance of a bachelor’s degree lies in providing the foundation for a master’s or higher degrees such as a PhD. Master’s degrees and PhD’s are often required to secure certain job opportunities. Upon completing studies required for a bachelor’s degree, one should be able to display a competency and skill in communications, fine arts, analytical and inferential reasoning, computational skills and an aptitude for self-development.

Bachelors of Arts (B.A. or A.B.) and Bachelor’s of Science (B.Sc. in Commonwealth usage or B.S. in U.S. usage) are now the most common bachelor or undergraduate degrees. However, degrees other than B.A. or B.S. such as B.A.Sc. (Bachelors of Applied Science), B.A.Econ. (Bachelors of Economics), B.Arch. (Bachelors of Architecture), B.B.A. (Bachelor’s of Business Administration), B.Comm. (Bachelors of Commerce), B.Comp. (Bachelors of Computing), B.CompSc. (Bachelors of Computer Science), B.D. – (Bachelors of Divinity), and other numerous bachelor’s degrees related to both Arts and Science are part of most university and college curriculum.

Over the years, attaining a bachelor’s degree has been simplified with the rapid development in communications, technology, the Internet and mass media. There are now many types of bachelor’s degree programs that have are available such as online bachelor ‘s degree studies, accelerated bachelor’s degree and distance learning bachelor’s degree programs (earning credits from home).

Bachelors Degrees provides detailed information about bachelors degrees, accelerated bachelors degrees, bachelor of arts degrees, bachelor of science degrees and more. Bachelors Degrees is the sister site of Nursing Continuing Education Courses.