Hey, high schoolers! Did you know some universities will cover expenses so you can take a gap year to travel and serve overseas?
Yep, you read that correctly.
Although the cost of a year spent volunteering abroad frequently makes such adventures unaffordable, a number of colleges now offer to pick up the tab for airfare, housing and visa charges — expenses that can exceed $30,000 for the year. (Click to tweet this opportunity!)
Tufts University is the most recent school to roll out a program like this, Newsweek notes. The Tufts 1+4 Program, which will place roughly 50 students as volunteers with domestic and international organizations, begins in the fall of 2015.
Curious which other colleges provide similar opportunities?
Princeton University
Via the Bridge Year Program, students spend nine months serving with community organizations and staying with homestay families in Brazil, China, India, Peru or Senegal. The program pays for living costs and additional financial assistance can cover travel, insurance, vaccinations and other associated expenses.
The University of North Carolina
New first-year students may apply for one of seven Global Gap Year Fellowships valued at $7,500, which can be paired with university partnerships in Kenya or Malawi, or used toward a self-designed gap year plan.
St. Norbert College
Participants in the Gap Experience earn full academic credit for a year of outdoor leadership and international service that substitutes for the standard freshman year. Tuition, room and board mirror regular campus fees, so financial aid can assist students wishing to join — though travel expenses are the student’s responsibility.
Your Turn: Would you seize the chance to enroll in one of these funded gap year programs? Know of any others we should list?
