“Gappers” more employable, less wealthy: study
Taking time off before going to university or college a mixed blessing, according to Canadian Council on Learning
According to the report, Canadian high-school graduates are most likely to choose and stick with one of two paths: either pursue post-secondary studies immediately, or enter the workforce and never enrol in higher education. Becoming a gapper—going to university or college, but only after time off or time in the workforce—is less common. The provinces that are exceptions are Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario and Alberta. In Ontario, during the period studies there were more gappers than non-gappers. Alberta had the highest proportion of students who entered into the workforce and did not pursue post-secondary studies. And Newfoundland has the reverse: the lowest proportion of students choosing to forgo post-secondary education.
The data used in that analysis came out of the 2004 Youth in Transition survey. Westheimer said Ontario’s surprising results may be a temporary blip, due to the double cohort of high-school grads in 2003-04. (Ontario eliminated grade 13, and effectively had two graduating high school classes—the so-called double cohort—entering university and college at the same time). Many of those double cohort students chose to delay their studies. In Alberta, Westheimer said, the job market is too attractive for many high school grads to pass up.
In terms of gapper and non-gapper academic success, the report sheds little information on the Canadian experience. It does point out, though, that American gappers are less likely to complete their studies, and Australian gappers (in a survey at one university) do a little better — 2.3 per cent on average — in school. The CCL says that it is “unclear” whether or not Canadian patterns are similar.
The CCL report applauded the work some universities have done to support students who want to take a year off, pointing to Princeton as an example (as we reported here a few months ago) of a school who allowed incoming students to take a year off before starting class to “complete social work around the world”. A new program to be rolled out at Princeton in 2009 will see up to 10 per cent of the incoming class do work overseas, potentially with financial assistance from the school.
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I have a personal explanation (speaking as a “gapper”) that provides both a competing reason for a difference in income between gappers and direct-entry university grads, as well as some rationale for the absence of an earning gap between gapper college grads and direct-entry grad.
While it’s true that degrees of experience will lead to some earnings lag in university graduates, it’s also true that there’s a wide range of professions that might result from any given university degree. So we’re not just taking about different positions on the same earnings ladder, we’re talking about potentially different choices about which ladder to even start climbing. I believe that “gapper” students, if you will, are making career choices that are motivated less by money and more by other considerations. That attitude is built right into the gapper profile. Of course there may be exceptions, but we’re talking about wide trends here. Those who really have money as a major motivating factor know right away they’ll need to attend school.
College, meanwhile, tends to train people into specific fields. So in this example, whether gapper or no, everyone is on the same earnings ladder. Gappers may enter the workforce later, but before too long they equalize. I’d be willing to bet we’d see a similar trend among university graduates, if we were able to control for resulting fields of employment.
I won’t say that’s all there is to it, but I know that’s the case for many older students I’m familiar with. They are all making choices that have more to do with satisfaction, lifestyle, and abstract ambitions rather than direct earning power. Delaying school is one such choice. So is returning to school, in many cases, once people have already found reasonable income. When we’re talking about a group of students who are already in that mindset, is it any surprise it might continue?
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I think the difference in earings between the to during school is because gappers may not have to work the same hours as a non-gapper because they have more money saved and thy don’t need as many hours as the non-gappers do to pay for their schooling and everyday needs.