A homeschool PSEO student at Normandale Community College, Ainsley Schwerr was wrapping up both a high school diploma and two-year college degree last spring when the coronavirus pandemic forced her classes to move online.
She was planning to transfer this fall to the early honors program at Hamline University in St. Paul, where students attend and write about lectures and cultural events. But those activities were moved online because of the pandemic.
“I was really excited,” she said, “and then COVID happened.”
Schwerr is one of a growing number of students taking a “gap year” this fall, deferring her college enrollment to 2021.
She’s spending the school year working from home in Eagan as coordinator of the student resource center at Normandale in Bloomington. She’ll join Hamline in fall 2021, when college life — she hopes — is back to normal.
“I was really hoping for this grand campus experience where you meet all your lifelong friends,” she said. “I only have two years of college and didn’t really want to spend one year online.”
‘SOME DON’T FEEL COMFORTABLE BEING ON CAMPUS’
At Hamline, 28 would-be students deferred enrollment this fall — 6 percent of the incoming class and three times as many as in a typical year. Of those, 18 plan to start in spring, while 10 are waiting the entire year.
Most are doing so because of the pandemic, the school said.
“Some don’t feel comfortable being on campus right now, which is a reasonable response from them,” President Fayneese Miller said.
Others may not be willing to pay for a private school education that will be delivered partly online, with a mask mandate and limits on socializing.
“The experience for some of them is not what they hoped it would be, especially for a first-year student,” Miller said.
GAP SEMESTER
At the University of Minnesota, 319 incoming freshmen have deferred enrollment, nearly three times as many as last year.
Ninety-eight are taking a “gap semester” instead of the traditional gap year, hoping perhaps that parties and in-person classes will be part of college life by January. The U previously offered only the full-year deferral.
“The U of M understands that as things continue to change, and the world evolves to the new normal, students may be seeking new options,” the U says on its gap year webpage.
The University of St. Thomas typically grants around five deferrals each year, often for prospective students who are exploring starting their professional hockey careers.
This year, 30 students are waiting till spring to enroll, “almost completely” related to the pandemic, said Al Cotrone, vice president of admissions.
With most students still taking in-person classes this fall, Cotrone said some students worry they’ll get sick and pass the virus to vulnerable family members.
Others are willing to wait till St. Thomas can offer the full, in-person experience that draws students to campus.
“There isn’t a single reason why,” Cotrone said.
VISA TROUBLES
Macalester College reported 78 deferrals this school year, up from about two dozen in a normal year. Seventeen of those students hope to start in spring, including nine international students.
Aaron Colhapp, director of international student programs, said many have been unable to get student visas to study at Macalester because consulates in their home countries aren’t taking appointments during the pandemic.
Besides those deferring enrollment, nearly 50 international students are taking classes online in hopes of traveling to St. Paul in time for the start of the second module of classes, Oct. 28.
“It’s super frustrating for the students,” Colhapp said.
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Amid the uncertainty around what college life would look like at more expensive schools this fall, Inver Hills Community College saw an opening to serve students taking the year off.
“It’s not something that’s been traditionally thought of as a community college experience,” Wendy Robinson, vice president of student affairs, said of the gap year.
The Inver Grove Heights school’s new GAP Year program, for Growth and Purpose, was aimed at aspiring four-year students who were getting cold feet about living in a dorm or traveling out of state for college during the pandemic.
Their 21-student cohort includes some targeted students but also current Inver Hills students taking the year off and even a recent graduate who wasn’t keen on entering a cooling job market.
Participants are spending the year working an internship or fellowship in a field of interest, such as environmental sustainability or civic engagement, while taking at least six college credits and completing a self-directed project.
For Schwerr, taking the year to work before joining Hamline was about more than experiencing college the way she dreamed it would look. She also has medically vulnerable family members whose health she wants to protect.
“With everything that’s going on, safety really comes first,” she said.