President Barack and Michelle Obama announced on Sunday that their eldest daughter Malia will take a gap year before attending Harvard in 2017. An estimated 30 to 40,000 students take a year off after graduating high school each year, according to the American Gap Association. They also say that number has increased by more than 20 percent jump from last year. Students who take a gap year may travel, work or intern in the U.S. or abroad. They may also volunteer for national organizations like City Year in which they help younger students in inner-city schools. These experiences in turn may accelerate students’ personal growth and help better prepare them for college, according to Joe O’Shea of Florida State University and author of “Gap Year: How Delaying College Changes People in Ways the World Needs.” While O’Shea said gap years are still taken by students who come from mostly middle-class or wealthy families, he says more organizations are providing scholarships for low-income students so that they may also participate in gap year programs.

gap year — a period, typically an academic year, taken by a student as a break between secondary school and higher education