The Impact of Covid-19 on Students’ Decisions to Take Gap Years

Because of COVID-19, many incoming first-year college students and even some upperclassmen chose to take a gap year. Prior to the pandemic, taking a gap year was already a path many students took, but there is now an indefinite rise of students taking this path. In this paper, researchers sought to understand the differences between taking a gap year pre-COVID-19 vs. during Covid-19? We hope to answer how gap years affect students' learning and academic patterns and analyze socio-economic factors such as family's financial capacities and on-campus housing. Moreover, it is also crucial to examine the long-term impacts of the increase in gap years. What will happen to tuition, higher-education availability, and the importance of college? We aimed to answer all of these questions through a series of surveys.受新冠疫情（COVID-19）影响，诸多大学新生乃至高校高年级学生均选择了间隔年（Gap Year）。早在新冠疫情大流行之前，间隔年就已是不少学生的升学选择路径之一，但当前选择该路径的学生人数正持续攀升，且尚无明确的增长趋势拐点。 本研究旨在对比新冠疫情前后选择间隔年的学生群体间的差异，以期阐明间隔年对学生学习活动与学业模式的影响，并分析家庭经济承受能力、校内住宿等社会经济相关因素。此外，探究间隔年人数增长所带来的长期影响亦极为关键：学费水平、高等教育可及性以及大学的社会重要性将发生何种变化？本研究通过一系列问卷调查，试图解答上述全部问题。