Research Blog #4: Research Proposal

 (This proposal is unchanged from the original draft, apologies for publishing this late)

Sean Park

Professor Michael Goeller

Research in Disciplines: College!

19 February 2021

Research Proposal

1) Working Title

Gap Years and Dropping Out: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Exacerbates Anxieties About Higher Education, Especially Among Lower Income Families

2) Topic Description

One of the many side effects that came with the onset of the recent pandemic was the drastic drop in student enrollment in higher education. The early months of the stay-at-home orders were characterized by schools scrambling to transition to online learning, with varying degrees of success based on the preexisting infrastructure they had. Anxieties about the pandemic and changes to schools during this time have prompted many students to take a gap year or drop out entirely to seek out more meaningful experiences or careers. An article from the Wall Street Journal noted how many students took a leave of absence or deferred enrollment in order to seek out internships or travel abroad to countries with lower levels of Covid. In one case, a student seeking to become a medical technician found himself working for an ambulance company in New York after deferring his enrollment for the semester (Dill). It seems that there have been a few “success stories” to come out during this tumultuous time, but it is unclear whether they are the exception or part of a general pattern. Another important point made in the article is how you need to go into a gap year with a plan, otherwise you’re wasting time you could have spent working towards a degree. A different article from Forbes emphasizes the income students lose out on when they take a leave of absence, and how a gap year needs to be meaningful enough to cover that lost income (Drake). The article reasons that due to the ongoing pandemic, it is exponentially more difficult to seek out meaningful life experiences, and that students are better off trying to make the most out of online learning.

             An important factor left out of both these discussions is how students of low income families are especially negatively impacted under Covid. The loss of thousands of jobs during the pandemic has pressured many students into taking a break from college to work full-time, usually at a minimum wage salary (Whitmore). Despite the overwhelming evidence that suggests obtaining a bachelor’s degree is the most effective route towards social mobility, many students have put their academic futures on hold because of their deteriorating family finances. This has been an ongoing trend for students from low income families, but has been intensified by the depressed economy in the wake of Covid. The ongoing pandemic provides a fitting backdrop for a discussion about the structural flaws in the college system that hinder its ability to promote social equality.

3) Research Questions

What are the vectors that determine why students drop out or take a gap year, and how do these options generally affect the trajectory of their academic and professional careers? What institutional failings have allowed students of low-income families to be at a higher risk of dropping out or taking a leave of absence?

4) Theoretical Frame

In a scholarly report on college drop-out by Mich Page, the author analyzes the “dysfunctional precursors” in secondary schools that corresponds to higher rates of student dropout in college. The most important factor that contributed to dysfunction in schools was a lack of resources provided to students by teachers to better inform them of the academic career paths available to them. This process works most efficiently when teachers are able to actively communicate with local colleges and businesses to better understand how each institution is linked to one another. When students are better informed of their options, they are more likely to succeed. This harkens back to previous discussions involving success in college, when we addressed the benefits of having parents with an intimate knowledge of postsecondary academic institutions. Another obvious, yet important key term for this research project is the idea of financial stress. A study conducted by Sonya L. Britt et al. found that higher levels of student loan debt strongly contributes to an increased likelihood of students dropping out of college. A lack of preparedness in college was also a supremely important factor, as spending the first year or more in college deciding on a major can have major consequences on debt accumulation. Looking at it from that perspective, it becomes even clearer why students should be provided with more resources and counseling from teachers in secondary schools to give them the best chances at finishing with a degree.

5) Cases

To explore the different schools of thought towards the efficacy of taking a gap year, I have two case studies that provide contrasting findings. One study conducted by Joseph Oshea gathers qualitative data from students who took a gap year between high school and college to observe how students emotionally matured through their experiences as they were confronted with new situations and had their own beliefs challenged. There is less concrete evidence here linking this data to future success, but it illustrates the main pro people see in taking a gap year.

             In contrast, the second case study conducted by Philip D. Parker et al. observes two longitudinal studies conducted on students from Finland and Australia, and found that compared to students who took a gap year did not achieve any noticeably greater success in their future careers compared to students who did not take a gap year. While they do acknowledge that students who took a gap year reported greater self-confidence, they also did not report higher rates of academic motivation or career satisfaction. This study summons doubts about the usefulness of taking a gap year, and paints the whole tradition in a less positive light. While gap years could be beneficial for students who can afford to delay their academic progress, for low-income students gap years can almost be seen as a trap that leaves them even further behind the curve.

6) Works Cited

Britt, Sonya L.; Ammerman, David Allen; Barrett, Sarah F.; and Jones, Scott (2017) "Student Loans, Financial Stress, and College Student Retention," Journal of Student Financial Aid: Vol. 47: Iss. 1, Article 3.

Drake, John. "Don’t Take A Gap Year Because Of The COVID-19 Pandemic". Forbes, 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/johndrake/2020/07/24/dont-take-a-gap-year-because-of-the-covid-19-pandemic/?sh=31d521173a72.

Dill, Kathryn. “Careers & Leadership: Gap Years in the Covid Era --- Rewards -- and Risks -- Greet Students Who Defer School for Other Efforts.” The Wall Street Journal. Eastern Edition, Eastern edition, Dow Jones & Company Inc, 2020.

O’Shea, Joseph. Gap Year : How Delaying College Changes People in Ways the World Needs . Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. 

Page, Mich. “Numbers and Narratives: What Can Schoolteachers Tell Us About College Drop-Out?” Research in Post-Compulsory Education, vol. 9, no. 2, Taylor & Francis, 2004, pp. 239–48, doi:10.1080/13596740400200177. 

Parker, Philip D., et al. “I Wish I Had (Not) Taken a Gap-Year? The Psychological and Attainment Outcomes of Different Post-School Pathways.” Developmental Psychology, vol. 51, no. 3, American Psychological Association, 2015, pp. 323–33, doi:10.1037/a0038667.

Whitmire, Richard. "‘That’s Not a Gap Year. That’s Just Not Going to College’: COVID-19 Erodes Equity Gains Of First-Generation College-Goers". The74million.Org, 2021, https://www.the74million.org/article/thats-not-a-gap-year-thats-just-not-going-to-college-covid-19-erodes-equity-gains-of-first-generation-college-goers/.