Postsecondary Delay in the US and Taking a Gap Year
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University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2014 Not All Types of Delay are Equal: Postsecondary Delay in the U.S. and Taking a Gap Year Nina DePena Hoe University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Higher Education Administration Commons, Higher Education and Teaching Commons, and the International Relations Commons Recommended Citation Hoe, Nina DePena, "Not All Types of Delay are Equal: Postsecondary Delay in the U.S. and Taking a Gap Year" (2014). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1313. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1313 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1313 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Not All Types of Delay are Equal: Postsecondary Delay in the U.S. and Taking a Gap Year Abstract Postsecondary delay in the U.S. is a topic that has generated interest in the field of higher education in recent decades. Seventeen percent of U.S. students under the age of 24 who began their postsecondary education in 2004 delayed their entrance for some period of time. At the national level, studies have indicated that students who delay are not only at a disadvantage in terms of their pre-college experiences, including lower socioeconomic status and lower levels of academic preparation and achievement, but also are less likely to enroll in a baccalaureate granting institution and complete a bachelor's degree. Another vein of higher education research, supplemented by promotion from popular media, has reported a host of positive effects associated with delaying specifically for a gap" year," or an intentional, one-year delay for the purpose of personal growth and learning, including travel, work and/or service work. Although gap year students have been reported to come from privileged backgrounds, this type of delay has been associated with higher academic performance and increased maturity in college. Consequently, there remains a significant disconnect in the literature that would explain how the reported positive effects of delaying college specifically for a gap eary co-occur with negative effects found to be associated with delaying postsecondary education in general, observed on a national level. This dissertation is comprised of three papers that focus on different aspects of postsecondary delay in the U.S. The first paper utilizes a large-scale national data set to describe the delay practices of students in the U.S., paying particular attention to the reasons students choose to delay and how different types of students delay for different reasons. This paper also identifies students' pre-college characteristics that predict delay choice. Findings show that there is considerable variation in student characteristics associated with different delay reasons. The second paper uses propensity score matching to create matched samples of students who delay for different reasons and immediate enrollers, to examine how the effects of delaying vary by students' reasons for delaying. The results indicate that when all other factors are equal, delaying for travel as compared to delaying but not for travel has a positive effect on students' academic outcomes and measures of civic engagement six years after starting postsecondary education. Specifically addressing the finding that travel has a positive effect during a delay, the third paper offers findings from interviews of students participating in gap year programs in Ecuador in order to examine the nature of their experiences. This study contributes to existing literature and the field of higher education yb disaggregating postsecondary delay in the U.S. and examining the students and outcomes associated with delaying for different reasons. In addition, this study expands existing frameworks for understanding both the delay and gap year choice processes and how delay and specifically gap eary experiences may serve in supporting, student success, overall well-being and development. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Education First Advisor Janine T. Remillard Keywords bridge year, delay, gap year, Global Citizen Year, higher education, postsecondary delay Subject Categories Education | Higher Education Administration | Higher Education and Teaching | International Relations This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1313 NOT ALL TYPES OF DELAY ARE EQUAL: POSTSECONDARY DELAY IN THE U.S. AND TAKING A GAP YEAR Nina DePena Hoe A DISSERTATION in Education Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2014 Supervisor of Dissertation: _________________________________________ Janine T. Remillard, Associate Professor of Education Graduate Group Chairperson: _________________________________________ Stanton E. F. Wortham, Professor of Education Dissertation Committee: Janine T. Remillard, Associate Professor of Education Laura W. Perna, Professor of Education Matthew Steinberg, Assistant Professor of Education NOT ALL TYPES OF DELAY ARE EQUAL: POSTSECONDARY DELAY IN THE U.S. AND TAKING A GAP YEAR COPYRIGHT 2014 Nina DePena Hoe DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my parents, Barbara and Bob Hoe, who always supported my passion for education and exploration. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Getting to this point feels like nothing shy of a miracle. I feel incredibly fortunate to have received so much support along the way from many wonderful people. Talar, you are the best graduate school best friend anyone could ask for. Above all – thank you for the laughs and answering calls and emails of desperation at all the right times. We met on the very first day of it all… and little did I know. We did this all together – from co-writing papers in ECS, first-year exams, comps, proposals, our dissertations and all of the great things in between; I can’t express how much having you as a partner at every step has meant. For your phenomenal editing skills, advising capabilities, dedoosing habits, humor, rationality, generosity, and your attempt to keep me on-time and on-task – I am forever grateful. I look forward to continuing this relationship throughout our personal and professional lives. Edith, your generosity overwhelms me. I am forever indebted to the time and energy (and mole) you gave to me during this process. You are going to be the best professor and advisor in the world – I have learned so much from you. Paper 2, we did together. And Rachel, my first academic friend – thank you for always being a source of truly valued feedback and advice, and for giving me confidence in my work – no matter where we happen to be around the globe. Mom, Dad, Victoria and Anna – what a truly amazing family you are, and I would not be at this point without your daily support. Through this process, you have endured thousands of hours of phone calls, and have done everything from listening to my ideas and struggles, to giving me feedback and carefully editing chapters. Thank you for your curiosity and interest in my work, all of the counseling sessions, many, many laughs, and iv always believing in me. I am eternally grateful for you all. I also want to remember Grammy Alice, who inspired my love for learning, stories, and hard work. I am thankful for my wonderful friends here in Philadelphia who provided me with much needed comic relief and delicious meals over the past few years – Amanda, our Thursday run-dinners are the best tradition; Jesse – thank you for walks, runs and hours of coffee shop support time even when you didn’t have work to do; and Sofia – my hslp, gym buddy, and chef – I cannot imagine daily life without you; IES crew and endless entertainment from Jamey DOONE, Claire, and Jess; and others who have been so important during the past years – Kate, my ski, bike, and cook partner; Luke, my secretary; Emily, my dissertation buddy; Eduardo, my work coach; Katie, Matt, and all others from my starting cohort. I’m also grateful for my wonderful friends outside of Philadelphia that have all played a part in getting me to this point. – Julia and Kate, Linny, Cacy; and Colorado friends, for the adventures and hospitality – Bre, Polly, Emmy, Melissa, Molly, Kat, and Stoney. And, Greg, you were instrumental in this entire process. Also, I am appreciative of the faculty and students at the University of Colorado – Boulder who welcomed me into their academic community last year, and to my dear Aunt Kathleen who provided the best dissertation writing retreat imaginable. Janine, thank you for taking me under your wing when I was a master’s student, and supporting me through the evolution of my work over the past five years. I have learned so much from you on many levels. Laura, I am grateful that you agreed to be on my committee, and particularly for your perspectives, your lightning-fast email responses, and for pushing me to make my papers better. Matthew, thank you for guidance and the valuable skills and lessons you taught me during this process. I am also v very appreciative of other professors and GSE staff, without whom I would not be here – Henry May, Becka, Lorna, Aislinn, Ameena, Rand, and Zach for years of computer and data help. The presence of and my access to the secure data room also contributed significantly to my productivity during this process – so thank you, Becka and NCES. For the content of this dissertation, I am indebted to the leaders in the Gap/Bridge Year world who allowed me to learn from their passions, ideas, goals and programs in general. The inspiration for this work stemmed from a serendipitous connection made through meeting with my first IES speaker, Jonah Rockoff, who connected with Abby Falik, the Founder and CEO of Global Citizen Year. I am grateful to Abby and Shannah and all others at Global Citizen Year, as well as Brad, Shawn, and Jo at Youth International who allowed me to spend time with your groups in Ecuador, become part of your teams, and think through so many important questions and issues with you all.