News: Get Paid to Wait

This is one of the best ideas I've heard of in years. According to the Christian Science Monitor:

More than 80 colleges and universities have started offering some matching grants for students who earn tuition assistance through AmeriCorps. At least 1,165 have signed on to match new government grants for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. And Princeton University and Dickinson College recently created programs to support public service, expecting that these students will bring a unique dimension to campus after spending time off the education track.

In other words, if you've always wanted to do community service full-time, here's your chance -- take a year off before going to school, give back to the community, AND get tuition assistance. Plus, as Princeton and Dickinson (which is going even further by offering a fellowship) quickly realized, having someone with a year's worth of community service under their belt adds to the student body (both in and out of the classroom).

Check out the full article here.

Also, a good list of "gap year" programs (both community-service focused and others) can be found here.

Now all we need is a gap-year option for bloggers.... ---CJ