Gap-Year from Education at 18 to work for College the next year

Generic Dreadhead

1st, a disclaimer: I don't have kids. and this is not about travelling for a year

But with all this talk about college fees (I really don't want this thread to be about the fees themselves or free education) I thought a good idea for when I do have a college going mini-me, would be for them to take a year out of education once they finish their Leaving Cert.

During that year they would work for 15 months in a regular 40hour a week entry level job (for the sake of the thread lets assume getting said job is not a problem - keep you recession, celtic phoenix and jobs bridge bashing to other threads)

I'd personally position it (situation providing) that what ever they earn in that year, 50% would go into savings for college and we would match it by a ration of 1:2 (so adding 25% of their gross for the year).

Then I'd like to arrange that for the following 4-5 years, they would get 25%-20% accordingly paid out per year over the course of the 9 months they are in college.

I think it would be a good idea as it would (pros):

• Give them early work experience and help them understand work (and all it's BS politics) early on
• Help them understand the value of money, maybe they'd be less keen to drink it away if they worked a whole year to get there
• Allow them to start college a year later and more mature meaning they have a better drive
• Help them be more ambitious as they will understand where there education helps them get ahead.

The only downsides I can think of are (cons)

• They finish education a year later than most
• They don't spend 1st year experiencing college life at the same time as their school friends
• Possibilities that coming out of the education system and going back in may have an adverse effect.

It's just kind of an idea I've been having for a while so wanted to see has anyone any suggestions, comments, experiences
(aside from the usual "Oh a thread about education in AH, this won't turn into a $hitstorm :rolleyes: " rubbish)

Now of course for this to work, I'm relying on having at 18yo who understands the idea and is willing to go along with it, i wouldn't make them do it, but i'd give them support if they did in however i could. I know that I could very well have them turn around and be like "you don't get to tell me what to do anymore"

So, After Hours, what says you

AnonoBoy

You're thinking ahead of yourself.

First you have to find a nice girl.

Meathlass

Is your 18 year old 'child' going to be given any choice in this?

Too far into the future to predict the changes in fee/education structure. If you want to save for college, put a tenner every week into an account for them - that's almost €9,500 before interest after 18 years.

Generic Dreadhead

AnonoBoy wrote: »

You're thinking ahead of yourself.

First you have to find a nice girl.

Already done, thankfully

Meathlass wrote: »

Is your 18 year old 'child' going to be given any choice in this?

I addressed that in the body of the thread, last section, please read the full thread if you are going to take the time to reply

Also I know at 18 you're not a child, but what am I supposed to call this non-existent being, "my future 18yo spawn" :P

If you want to save for college, put a tenner every week into an account for them - that's almost €9,500 before interest after 18 years.

You've completely missed the point in so many ways.

It's not about us just outright paying for their education right off the bat. It's about them learning good values, the value of money, the value of education, maturing and paying for their own success in life (albeit with some support).

It's a way of preparing for the school fees etc (which I KNOW will be different in 20 years obviously, i'm speculating here, it's just an idea) while avoiding loans or just parents covering your butt outright.

Meathlass

Those values you mention are something you need to instil in children from birth. So, make sure they get a job while in secondary school and have to put away a certain percentage of wages each week.

I do think you have a point though in terms of maturity. So many young people end of dropping out of courses as they don't properly research what it entails.

When I went to college my parents paid my registration fee (it was only €250 then!) and my rent and I got €20 a week into my bank account. This was all on condition that I get a part time job, which I did.

whiskeyman

it's an interesting idea, and I think many school leavers would benefit from entering the real world for a year or two before they enter college.
Some may know college isnt for them, and it may in turn reduce the high number of college drop out rates / waste in education spending on same.
It may also focus others on their career choices.

Akrasia

The only jobs that will be available in 18 years time will be as a human sex toy for one of our robot overlords

Generic Dreadhead

Akrasia wrote: »

The only jobs that will be available in 18 years time will be as a human sex toy for one of our robot overlords

But with the gap year and a decent education they can rise to the highest step in the corporate sex-toy ladder.

If you think office politics is bad now.... It'll be an awful lot worse trying to get ahead in dystopian sex-crazed-robot future, I want to give my non existant spawn the best shot

Glock Lesnar

Why don't you just pay for your child to go to colleger rather than making them pack shelves for a year in their prime

Mr. Incognito

Why is it everyone has ideas how everyone ELSE should live instead of focusing on their own lives?

Generic Dreadhead

Glock Lesnar wrote: »

Why don't you just pay for your child to go to colleger rather than making them pack shelves for a year in their prime

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Why is it everyone has ideas how everyone ELSE should live instead of focusing on their own lives?

I was wondering when the usual ole AH replies would arrive.

It was just a suggestion which I believe would work for me/OH/non-existant spawn, if you have nothing intelligent to add, just continue to disagree, close the thread and move on. Noone is trying to goade you here.

I'm not judging anyone for how they or their kids choose to fund their education, there's too many factors to consider.

With all the talk about College fees I thought something like the above idea would at least garner some intelligent debate and discussion.

In a LOT of countries young adults have to do a period of some sort of national service, this would be kind of like that, though I imagine firing a rocket launcher would be safer than working in Dunnes/Call Centre/Cafe :pac:
(delete and choose as appropriate to ensure you are adequately enraged "grrr I work in Dunnes, nothing wrong with it" etc)

0byme75341jo28

Cormac... wrote: »

It's not about us just outright paying for their education right off the bat. It's about them learning good values, the value of money, the value of education, maturing and paying for their own success in life (albeit with some support).

You can have all of these qualities without taking a gap year though, it just completely depends on the 18yo imo.

Anyway, wouldn't living off beans on toast for a year teach you the value of money fairly quickly? :P

Generic Dreadhead

Nickolas Witty Vine wrote: »

You can have all of these qualities without taking a gap year though, it just completely depends on the 18yo imo.

Completely 100% agree, again this thread is speculative, I'd be interested if looking back some parents on here with college going kids aroun 20 would have liked to have done this in hindsight, or even if some fellow students wanted to chirp in.

Maybe some background as to what made me make this thread would help:

Personally I lived off 20 hours part time min wage and some college loans, the thing is, those college loans loomed over me after I left for many years, and then they were just "loans" that could be topped up, and now due to top ups I still have them, granted these were not great decisions by me, but I'd like to take 1 year and work for college money (in hindsight if i could have a do-over) then spend several years afterwards still paying the loads back

Anyway, wouldn't living off beans on toast for a year teach you the value of money fairly quickly? :P

It was only the best beer, pizzas, spirits and steaks.... living like a king I was, hence see the above point :pac:

Fukuyama

A gap year doesn't have negative effects. It makes you mature, a lot. Nothing worse than a 1st year who still behaves like a 6th year, if you understand me.

I took one. Worked in Tesco and figured out what I wanted to do. Would recommend.

No need to stop working during college either - just scale back to part-time. Most retail and even some office jobs have no problem accommodating students.

Also, setting up some form of financial payment scheme with your kid kind of shields them from the true student experience - being poor despite working 30 hours a week, classes for 20, studying for 10 and socializing in between.

my teapot is orange

The risk I would see is what if your child finds it easy and turns out to like earning money more than the idea of going to college, like a lot of people who could make silly money with no qualifications during the boom. They might not be doing something awful on terrible money that makes them really focus on how badly they want to earn more in the future. If they started on 9 or 10 euro an hour and got some minor promotion to say 12 for example after six months, suddenly they have a nice little life for themselves and they can even afford to move out and tell you where to go with your percentages if you don't like it.

I don't agree with the Irish student system anyway where parents have the burden but also have such a level of control. This is not aimed at you OP. I think adults should get student loans and pay for themselves. That teaches real responsibility and gives real freedom too, they are not answerable to anyone.

Generic Dreadhead

That actually a very good point, it might completely take the drive out of a certain percentage of students who instead of even doing any college decide to just work