A Christian gap year program is generally hosted and run by a faith-based organization — often a Christian camp or missions organization — is staffed by ministry professionals, and has strong elements of spiritual formation, biblical worldview development, discipleship, and mentoring. While secular gap year experiences will also have service learning and experience-based learning, Christian programs add eternal perspective and eternal impact to these program components.

There are a lot of different kinds of programs with a variety of experiential and learning opportunities. But the best Christian gap year programs are designed to help you discover your God-designed purpose and path, develop key life skills with a strong biblical worldview, and launch into the next steps of your journey with confidence. You should expect strong mentoring, tight community, intentional learning, the opportunity to serve in with impact, and a stronger vision for the next steps in life. You should also expect a safe environment (physically, emotionally, spiritually) and a well-designed program that has plenty of room to press in and plenty of room to reflect and breathe. You should expect to be challenged, and you should expect to grow.

There are several ways a gap year can save you money. Statistics show that over 90% of gap year students finish college degrees on pace, saving multiple semesters of extra tuition, and placing them into the workforce earlier than peers. Also, gap year participants that earn college credit during their gap year often do so at a significant discount, saving substantially on future tuition and graduating even faster. And alternative options for life skill training and resume-quality experiences generally cost more and produce less.

Great question, one that starts with a basic understanding of what you hope to gain from the program. Alignment is a big deal. So first make a list of program features that will serve your goals. From there, look at the people and the program design. People make the program. You want to see experience leading in an active learning environment and a discipleship mindset that sees the program as a platform to invest in you, not simply a process to run. And you should look for a program that has clear outcomes, dynamic experiences with integrated learning, and a solid record of helping participants transition to next steps once complete. If you plan to enroll for college credit, make sure the courses are woven into the program experiences, not just online courses taken alongside so that earning credit adds value to the program dynamic instead of competing with it.

Actually, quite the opposite. Even Ivy League universities support and encourage gap years after high school, when done strategically. In most cases, doing a gap year does not impact financial aid or admissions standing. It’s always a good idea to communicate with the admissions office of the college you plan on attending about how to defer enrollment appropriately. But students that complete a gap year often finish faster than their peers, perform better in their college courses, and experience better mental health for the duration of their college experience. According to research, resting the traditional academic approach, learning to bring experience into active learning, a year of added maturity, improved life skills, and more dynamic social and leadership skills, are among the contributing factors to those outcomes. If you are intentional and take a growth-driven approach to a gap year, you should gain momentum, not lose it. And the best Christian gap year programs are designed to help you do exactly that in a healthy environment.