I was speaking to a friend that teaches at a university and she said about 30% of students that would normally come to her university next year are requesting a one year deferral, and taking a gap year. If that’s happening at universities across the province, and the country, that’s going to have a devastating impact on universities. Also, what are these students going to do next year? The two most productive things that students do in a gap year are work to save money, and travel (get some life experience). The job market is not going to bounce back quick enough, with unemployment at some of the highest levels in years, and most countries aren’t going to lift travel bans any time soon.
So what are all these gap year students going to do?
I wonder about the mental well-being of students who are not going to school, can’t get a job or travel, and are home and idle?
What can we do to support these students?
I also wonder if all of our colleges and universities will survive financially with such a decrease in students and revenue?
Will a percentage of high school students also stay home? Will there be a spike in high school students wanting to take online courses rather than try blended courses with teachers unfamiliar with this form of delivery?
Will private school students and their families decide that they should just go to public school rather than pay expensive tuition for an online experience?
We are headed into some very unknown territory and the impacts to what schooling might look like for September 2020 and beyond may not unfold in ways that we are expecting.
