For many students, finishing school with A-levels means having reached a major milestone in their lives and they, understandably, want to relax and allow the stresses of academic study fall away. For those, the temptation to take a gap year before embarking on a university programme is strong. Gap years have become fashionable, to take a year out and go and have an adventure or get some work experience. There are, however, good reasons not to delay taking up higher education. Financial reasons While some students taking a gap year work hard and manage to save up money to put towards the costs of higher education, many more find the opposite it true. Instead of working through the year they reward themselves for past hard work with a year off, either undertaking voluntary programmes or simply taking extended travelling holidays. While both these things are mentally enriching and can be character-building and give you practice at staying in student accommodation, they do not help towards the end objective of getting a degree. Volunteer programmes can be expensive and travelling is notoriously costly. The student who takes this route is likely to find him or herself in restricted financial straits at […]