But then the kids from 2021 will take a gap year and so on and so on. I don’t think most schools will offer gap years to kids who are doing nothing other than sheltering in simply because they don’t like the idea of online learning or they are pouting that they won’t get the full on-campus experience. That kind of snowflake behavior, when plenty of other kids will no doubt be willing to work with the school and deal with the consequences of the pandemic, I don’t think will fly. Yes, it could hit their bottom line but in the end I think there are more headaches for schools if they offer gap years to anyone who wants one than not.
I’ve been on many webinars in the past couple of weeks, and without exception the AOs have said they are predisposed to being flexible with the class of 2020, and will likely allow GAP year requests, with no big plans needed.
It won’t hit their bottom line, as long as they can meet their enrollment goal thru the admitted students, or by going to the waitlist. Of course as we know there are schools who were struggling to meet their enrollment goals prior to covid-19.
I had merely asked if you had heard of any school who said they weren’t going to allow gap years.
Some do not normally allow deferred enrollment for admitted applicants, and they may not change their policies (so that those who do want to do a gap year have to apply again).
Do you think private schools will offer more merit aid if you appeal? Is it worth asking and holding out before committing or do we lose all leverage if we go ahead and commit now?
I think you might get a modest, gesture type increase. We made a similar appeal after the markets tanked and uncertainty arose and reached out to 3 schools our son is interested in but has little chance affording.
School 1- Declined.
School 2- Never heard back from
School 3- Increased 3000 grant to 5000. Still not even close to affordable for our son but they were very kind and appeared to understand the anxiousness many are facing.
@purpler - There is no guarantee that they will give more merit especially since they themselves are probably hurting financially as well. That being said, committing before you are settled on the cost gives them absolutely no incentive to provide more assistance.
One thing to consider with gap years - deadlines. I assume many schools might allow gap years as long as students notify them by a certain deadline so they can offer a spot this year to a waitlisted student. My daughter is planning to go abroad for a language immersion program, and her school (private, well-endowed) was generous enough to say she can enroll and then declare the gap year up till the last minute - student orientation in mid-September. That way if the program is cancelled at the last minute, D won’t lose her spot this year. If her deadline to take a gap year was in May, for example, we probably would have passed on the opportunity abroad due to all the uncertainty.
To date, Ohio State has admitted nearly 40% more students vs last year, over 8,000 more students! Published reports here, see ‘Weekly Report’: http://oesar.osu.edu/admissions.aspx
Very curious about other schools. Anyone have current admission numbers for other Universities?
@momzilla2D, I believe USC has admitted 16% this year vs. 11% last year, but that is a relatively small bump.
Actually that is a significant change. For the Class of 2023, it admitted 11.4% of 66000 applicants, or about 7500 students. For the class of 2024, they admitted 9500 students.
9500 / 7500 => 27% increase
Williams college admitted “slightly” more students. Here, on their own words:
“The Office of Admission sent letters of admission through regular decision to the Class of 2024 yesterday, bringing the total number of acceptances to roughly 1,250 — slightly more than usual. The small increase in acceptances is one of several adjustments the Office has made as it confronts the disruption and uncertainty of the COVID-19 outbreak. ( Over the previous five years, the College had accepted an average of 1,197 students for the target class size of 550. )”
I checked a few other colleges (from my D’s list) and they admitted the exact same number as last year.
MIT admitted 1,427 in 2019 and 1,457 in 2020.
If everyone takes gap years, what will be the effect on next year’s admissions cycle? Will it get really competitive? Will it cancel out with less applicants? Or will only a few or not many students take gap years?
Also, if students are unable to take SATs until say early or mid-fall, how much would you all expect to see SAT scores drop? I would say there’s a decent chance that the average applicant will have only taken the SAT once if this virus persists. Will schools that were reaches for a student’s SAT score become a match? There is going to be a lot of uncertainty with this year’s and next year’s admission cycle.
My hunch around testing is that there will be little change for elite schools but for the rest there will be much less emphasis on standardized testing. Many schools have indicated going test optional for next year and I would not be entirely surprised if it is not a “1 time” shift and they go test optional afterwards.
I am feeling optimistic that fall is going to look “normal” at colleges based on recent news. Maybe I am just hopeful as 12th graders such as my own have had such a miserable spring…
The more I read about this (great insights from all here) the more I wonder what would be the point of having the graduating HS senior defer or take a gap year? A lot of folks in my area have kids going to out-of-state flagships (likely my kid, also).
And parents are talking - should the fall semester be online, it’s not fun to picture paying relatively big bucks for tuition that’s entirely remote. But as someone here said, what’s the alternative? Go to community college (can you even do that while deferring?), or get a job (in what area, if we are still in some version of lock down and unemployed folks are fighting for every position?), travel (likely impossible)?
I don’t see any alternative to just going with the flow and continuing on the course set (as long as family finances can manage it). Unless someone else has another idea! 
That’s pretty much what we are thinking for our daughter. Forge ahead with online classes (our college junior is doing that now). Typically, a college would let you take a class or two during a gap year, but it requires prior approval. Perhaps some of them will give students a little more latitude in this situation. But with the job market being so bad, we figure the best thing to do is keep moving forward. It’s a bummer, but if college is online in the fall, at least we will save the cost of room and board. Crazy times!!!
I’m really concerned with how things play out next year. I need to take the SAT again, summer program/internship options are mostly out of the question, and with the uncertainty of how the next few months are going to go, I just don’t know how admissions will be for the class of ‘21.
@“Jolynne Smyth” my daughter is still very much set on taking her gap year abroad studying in an intensive language program. Her college let’s her declare a gap year up through the start of a semester, mid-September, so if things fall through with a foreign program, D could still attend college in the fall, but she is betting things will normalize by the fall and her program will still be on.
An idea floated at a recent trustees meeting (and no, I am NOT the trustee): Perhaps this college could, this fall, with its large lecture halls and spacious classrooms, keep a 6-feet-apart-social distancing policy DURING TEACHING HOURS. They might even ask profs to teach the same class twice in the same day, so as to keep the number of students low in each class.
BUT: They’d be unwilling to open any dorms - or commence any sporting, dramatic or group activities (including frats) until further notice. The subject of student-parent indemnity signings came up.
SO: That could mean a lot of commuting-from-home students (assuming they live nearby or in-state), or scramble-to-find-off-campus housing situations, even for incoming freshmen.
Would it be the college experience kids dream off? No, but the thought of reducing tuition so substantially in offering on-line only, well, it was a scenario that was suggested. That’s all I know.
@Laxmama24 Yeah that plan is not an option for rural LACs. EVeryone lives on campus in campus housing and there’s no where close to enough inventory for off campus housing. Colleges couldn’t expect kids to figure that out and they’d end up with hardly any students. Maybe top rural LACs have a very very small percentage of kids even from their state.