A study released in December found that a number of school leavers who are opting to attend university upon leaving high school are holding off for a year.
While many school leavers choose to take a gap year before commencing their studies, there hasn’t always been readily available support for this group.
Recognising this, the Universities of Sydney, Canberra, Wollongong, as well as the Country Education Foundation, have launched a website to better guide regional high school students in their post-school decisions.
Research and widening participation equity practitioners received a $550,000 grant from the NSW Education Department to develop new support in the form of digital communications – such as email communications, webinars, videos, and podcasts – for these students and their parents.
Included in the resources will be a website which will help address misconceptions about gap years, university experiences, as well as financial and social costs of attending university.
Project lead, Dr Samantha McMahon from the Sydney School of Education and Social Work, said students consider gap years as a “necessary, well-reasoned and ultimately helpful event.”
“But it’s not the automatic ‘magic bullet’ cure for post-school anxieties, indecisions, and aspirations and needs that some students might think it to be. So, it is vital students and their parents are provided with accurate and easily accessible information to make their decisions,” McMahon said.
“Our aim is to create publicly available resources that reduce the burden on parents and students of independently researching and comparing information regarding gap years and university participation.”
Response to report findings
The project also stems from the 2017 ‘Regional Transitions to University’ report by the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education, which found that around 40% students in regional NSW with an ATAR rank of 75 or more end up not transitioning to university.
This is higher compared to some 26% of students in metropolitan NSW with the same ATAR ranks.
The report further found that half of the Year 11-12 students covered in the survey said they intend to take a gap year.
Asked why, some respondents said they needed a break while others said they needed to earn money to support their university study.
“The [NSW Education] Department’s internal data shows that even five years after finishing school, many qualified students had not transitioned to university, with around only five to six per cent of students taking a gap year making the transition to university,” the study read.
“Australian and international literature also shows that students who delay enrolment were less likely to be enrolled after four or five years.”
The report also found that 77% of students with “high aspirations for their futures” were intending to complete a degree. Asked why, around 60% of these students said they won’t have enough money to cover their education while 56% said they did not want to go into debt.
Some 43% reasoned indecision, saying that they are unsure of what degree to take and where to study, as well as what future they are aiming for. Around 41% also said that they did not want to leave their family, friends and the region behind.