Gap Year May Get Boost if Dems Take White House

According to a January 2007 Time article Democracy Reborn, by Rich Stengel, a 'youth quake' of participation in the voting process is taking hold in America, reversing successive declines in election cycles between 1972 and 2004. Stengel comments that "young people sense they are coming of age at a time when leadership, and their role in choosing it, really matters".

At Planet Gap Year, we are very excited about the astonishing level of involvement by young people in the current election process, and the potential for the gap year to become an integral part of this new spirit of volunteerism and civic involvement. (By the way, Time has been leading an effort to revive civic engagement among young people, and argued in a September 2007 article, "The Case for National Service" (which I blogged about on our site) that public service should become a universal rite of passage for young Americans.

This political development raises the possibility that a unique 'American Student Gap Year', could become a universal right of passage in the near future, here's why. Both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama have bold plans in their campaign platforms that promise to expand volunteer opportunities for youth through the expansion of AmeriCorps. For example, Senator Clinton has pledged to double the educational awards for AmeriCorps volunteers from the current level of up to $4,725 to $9,450 to pay for college or graduate school or to pay back qualified student loans. If this increased funding became a reality students and their parents would seriously consider a gap year of national service as a means of financing a college education. According to Senator Obama's web site, his plan calls for increasing the number of slots in Americorps from 75,000 to 250,000. Again, if Americorps increases opportunity for membership, far more students would be apt to join as part of a gap year experience.