5 ms·

I always hear about how american college students, upon graduating, take a year off to travel around. How common is this? 10k should be around 20k by now, how c

by sanoli 11y ago

I always hear about how american college students, upon graduating, take a year off to travel around. How common is this? 10k should be around 20k by now, how common is it in the US for parents to give 20 thousand in free travel money to a son who graduates?

marricks 11y ago
As an US citizen I haven't heard or seen it directly ever. I always thought it was a British "gap year" thing.
- ambicapter 11y ago
  The "gap year" is usually between high school and college though (using American terms).
eachro 11y ago
A lot of fresh college graduates travel for a bit before starting their job. Anecdotally, all of friends used money from past internships/summer jobs and signing bonuses to pay for their trips. It really is not that expensive to travel if you choose the right places and purchase tickets well in advance.
- lettergram 11y ago
  A bunch of people I went to school with teaveled independently through Asia on the cheap. Signing bonuses were enough to move and live in SF for 3-6 months prior to starting work, instead they traveled. I suspect it was roughly the same price
- lfowles 11y ago
  This is unheard of among my friends (mostly engineering) and may just as well have been Hollywood myth.
- gozur88 11y ago
  When I graduated everybody I knew went straight to work. That was awhile ago, though. These days it seems like people graduate with so much debt they might just shrug and think "what's another $10k?"
jonesb6 11y ago
Students with an entirely subsidized tuition tend to do it, those with debt don't.
overcast 11y ago
This is not common at all, sure some may do a little bit of travel. But the fact that we're all in debt to our eyeballs in school loans, means we are generally jumping into jobs as soon as we can. I was working full time before I even graduated, being hired out of my co-op/internship from RIT. It's certainly NOT common for parents to dump 10-20K on you, and say go have travel and have fun. That's laughable.
freyr 11y ago
In my experience, it's more common for students to study abroad while enrolled in school, and only 1.5% of students do this [1]. [1] http://www.nafsa.org/explore_international_education/advocacy_and_public_policy/study_abroad/trends_in_u_s__study_abroad/ http://www.nafsa.org/explore_international_education/advocac...
eugenekolo2 11y ago
I don't know where you're listening, because this is not a common thing. It's actually far more common to do this in Europe.
mmanfrin 11y ago
I think it's more common among people who are from upper-middle to upper classes; so a big majority don't, but a socially-loud minority do.
- pjlegato 11y ago
  This. Rich kids are also much better positioned in terms of parental funding and familial social connections to do things that bring them international acclaim afterwards. They then get a platform to tell a worldwide audience about their life story and their parent-subsidized gap year, creating a very distorted view of American culture abroad. In other words, only a tiny percentage of American kids get 10k from their parents to go on vacation in Europe. It's just that the international circulation of media that say "I had kids and worked two jobs to be able to pay the bills and never got to go anywhere" is far lower.
  - ktRolster 11y ago
    Though let's be honest, $10k is hardly out of reach for.....anyone. If that's something you really want, you can get it.
    - pjlegato 11y ago
      I'm not sure if this is a troll, or just someone who is massively out of touch with how most people live. Median household (not individual) income in the US was 51k in 2013.[1] A 10k vacation to Europe is indeed out of reach for most of the population of the US. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United...
      - ktRolster 11y ago
        If you can't save $10k while on a $51k income, you have serious money issues.
        11y ago
stanmancan 11y ago
I have always loved travelling so when my daughter was 5 I started a travel fund for her. I should have about $15k saved up for her by the time she's 18. It's completely separate from her education savings. I personally consider it equally as important though.
nerfhammer 11y ago
Not at all common, American students more typically graduate with enormous debt, which precludes this sort of thing.

by sanoli 11y ago

marricks 11y ago

As an US citizen I haven't heard or seen it directly ever. I always thought it was a British "gap year" thing.

ambicapter 11y ago
The "gap year" is usually between high school and college though (using American terms).

eachro 11y ago

A lot of fresh college graduates travel for a bit before starting their job. Anecdotally, all of friends used money from past internships/summer jobs and signing bonuses to pay for their trips. It really is not that expensive to travel if you choose the right places and purchase tickets well in advance.

lettergram 11y ago
A bunch of people I went to school with teaveled independently through Asia on the cheap. Signing bonuses were enough to move and live in SF for 3-6 months prior to starting work, instead they traveled. I suspect it was roughly the same price
lfowles 11y ago
This is unheard of among my friends (mostly engineering) and may just as well have been Hollywood myth.
gozur88 11y ago
When I graduated everybody I knew went straight to work. That was awhile ago, though. These days it seems like people graduate with so much debt they might just shrug and think "what's another $10k?"

jonesb6 11y ago

Students with an entirely subsidized tuition tend to do it, those with debt don't.

overcast 11y ago

This is not common at all, sure some may do a little bit of travel. But the fact that we're all in debt to our eyeballs in school loans, means we are generally jumping into jobs as soon as we can. I was working full time before I even graduated, being hired out of my co-op/internship from RIT. It's certainly NOT common for parents to dump 10-20K on you, and say go have travel and have fun. That's laughable.

freyr 11y ago

In my experience, it's more common for students to study abroad while enrolled in school, and only 1.5% of students do this [1]. [1] http://www.nafsa.org/explore_international_education/advocacy_and_public_policy/study_abroad/trends_in_u_s__study_abroad/ http://www.nafsa.org/explore_international_education/advocac...

eugenekolo2 11y ago

I don't know where you're listening, because this is not a common thing. It's actually far more common to do this in Europe.

mmanfrin 11y ago

I think it's more common among people who are from upper-middle to upper classes; so a big majority don't, but a socially-loud minority do.

pjlegato 11y ago
This. Rich kids are also much better positioned in terms of parental funding and familial social connections to do things that bring them international acclaim afterwards. They then get a platform to tell a worldwide audience about their life story and their parent-subsidized gap year, creating a very distorted view of American culture abroad. In other words, only a tiny percentage of American kids get 10k from their parents to go on vacation in Europe. It's just that the international circulation of media that say "I had kids and worked two jobs to be able to pay the bills and never got to go anywhere" is far lower.
- ktRolster 11y ago
  Though let's be honest, $10k is hardly out of reach for.....anyone. If that's something you really want, you can get it.
  - pjlegato 11y ago
    I'm not sure if this is a troll, or just someone who is massively out of touch with how most people live. Median household (not individual) income in the US was 51k in 2013.[1] A 10k vacation to Europe is indeed out of reach for most of the population of the US. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United...
    - ktRolster 11y ago
      If you can't save $10k while on a $51k income, you have serious money issues.
      - 11y ago

stanmancan 11y ago

I have always loved travelling so when my daughter was 5 I started a travel fund for her. I should have about $15k saved up for her by the time she's 18. It's completely separate from her education savings. I personally consider it equally as important though.

nerfhammer 11y ago

Not at all common, American students more typically graduate with enormous debt, which precludes this sort of thing.