Gap years have changed quite a bit over the last decade, moving beyond global travel and volunteering to any activities (travel or no travel) that contribute to personal growth, and the general acceptance by families and counselors that gap years are a viable postsecondary option.
The next 10 years will see their share of additional change. It’s difficult to predict what the gap year world will look like in another decade, but we can observe some current trends and their implications for independent educational consultants (IECs) in 2026.
1. Use of AI for Gap Year Research and Planning
The increased availability of online gap year resources over the past decade has given families a great deal of information to support research and planning. In the past two years, artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google Gemini have turbocharged this. The speed at which AI can synthesize data about gap year benefits and program offerings is remarkable. However, in a similar way that IECs will continue to provide important support to students in the college, school, and graduate school application process, gap year consultants remain essential. This includes nuanced tasks requiring judgment, relationships, and experience that still require human involvement: deep vetting of program quality, matching students with experiences aligned with their unique goals and circumstances, and providing regular mentorship.
2. Role of Mental Health and LD/ND Profiles
When I joined this field 10 years ago, there was little talk in the gap year community about students with anxiety and depression, and learning differences and neurodiverse profiles (LD/ND). Now, a greater number of students are emerging from high school with low emotion-regulation and distress-tolerance skills, and low executive-function skills, especially around organization and planning. Parents’ perceptions and expectations of students’ skills are often not consistent with their student’s performance.
We see more students than ever considering gap time to improve their emotional wellness (coping, resilience, self-compassion) and problem-solving and decision-making skills. There is also a growing community dedicated to supporting the needs of LD/ND students. Sometimes these teens are able to self-manage in a structured gap year program, but other times, they need a therapeutic program. (For more, see “Gap Year or Therapeutic Program: How to Choose” in the Winter 2025 Insights.)
3. Focus on Workplace Readiness and Career Planning
A 2024 study of business leaders indicated a high level of employer dissatisfaction with the workforce preparation of recent college graduates. Hiring managers say recent college grads are unprepared for the workforce, can’t handle the workload, and are unprofessional. Nine in 10 hiring managers say recent college graduates should undergo etiquette training.
With this feedback and the soaring cost of college, it is not surprising that more gap year experiences are focusing on workplace readiness and career interests. An increasing number of formal gap year activities now focus directly in this area.
4. Decline in Structured Gap Year Programs
When we looked at gap year trends two years ago, we noted that students were looking for more independent experiences that gave them the opportunity to explore on their own, without being on a unified itinerary with the same cohort of students 24/7. Traditional structured programs were beginning to see lower enrollment for spring 2024 locations.
It turns out that this phenomenon was not short-lived. Some organizations running structured programs outside the United States have canceled spring 2026 entirely for lack of students or scaled back to a small number of locations. USA Gap Year Fairs, which showcase gap year programs, have continued to shrink in number as attendance has fallen by half. Participation at the Winnetka, Illinois (Chicago) fair, one of the largest on the circuit, has declined 60 percent since 2017. They are running only 16 fairs in 2026, compared to 43 in 2018.
There is no data to diagnose this decline. We can only comment based on what we see, which is students gravitating to shorter projects, internships (both in the United States and abroad), and more locally based activities focused on better defining college and career interests. Some of our favorite structured gap year programs do a great job of blending development of life skills (e.g., decision-making, independent living) with professional skills (e.g., business internships). Given this shift, IECs should not assume that programs they have recommended to families in the past are still running.
5. More Students Taking Gap Time While in College
We’ve always had college students inquire about the possibility of a gap year. From 2019 to 2022, 16 percent of the intake questionnaires received by Gap Year Solutions were from students already in college. This has increased to 25 percent from 2023 to 2025. Last year, nearly 30 percent of our questionnaires were from college students.
In the past, students thinking of transferring colleges would generally apply to new schools by transfer deadlines (often March) and then enroll at a new college in the fall or stay at their current institution. We are seeing a larger percentage of these students with “intent to transfer” take a gap year instead of immediately re-enrolling at a new school. While there are myriad reasons for this (financial, family issues, medical), we are seeing more students simply willing to pause, take the time to work on themselves, and make a more patient and intentional decision about their future.
6. Students Ditching Their Gap Year Plan After Getting Off Waitlists
This past spring, we witnessed an entirely new dynamic related to college admissions. Students who had planned to take a gap year decided to attend college instead due to schools admitting them off waitlists and often granting large merit scholarships.
With waitlists having grown to more than 3,000 students in some cases, I have seen very few students get admitted to selective schools off waitlists. If there was movement from waitlists, it was usually in late July or August. Last spring, we had several students who changed direction completely after already planning their fall 2025 semester with us. They got off waitlists in June with meaningful financial offers included and decided to forgo the gap year.
We had another student who was planning a gap year and was going to apply for the first time to college during his gap time. He ended up visiting a school that was high on his list toward the end of April. While on campus, the admissions office suggested that he submit an application for fall 2025. He liked the school and immediately applied. Not only did he get in, but he was granted a great scholarship. He never even had to complete the Common App!
7. Increase in Homeschooled Teens Taking Gap Years
Did you know homeschooling in the United States has doubled in just a few years? The Department of Education and the Census Bureau found that nearly 6 percent of K-12 students were homeschooled in 2023, up from 2.8 percent in 2019. Increasingly, these students are stepping into gap year experiences, bringing a strong sense of independence and self-motivation shaped by their personalized education.
Take our recent homeschooled student from Minnesota. She planned a gap year so she could practice curling, with the goal of making the US National Junior team (spoiler alert: she made the team!). In addition to training, she hoped to gain more maturity and confidence, and ultimately to be more comfortable with her college decision. So, in addition to curling, she did research with a professor at a nearby college, worked a part-time job, spent time with her grandparents doing odd jobs, learned to cook, and reapplied to college. She’s now happily enrolled at Notre Dame.
Homeschooled students are natural candidates for gap years. They are already “off the traditional path” of academics and open to different ways of learning. Expect to see more homeschooled teens fill the ranks of gap year students in the years ahead.
By Katherine Stievater, IECA (MA)