Crisis

Moving from high school to college is a significant change, one that almost no one makes while ready for it. You’re making it younger than most. You have options here, more than just to do or not to do. As for the direct relationship between financial aid and gap years, don’t base things like that off what you think, base them off of what you know. Be aware that if you do take a gap year, wherever you apply will want to know what you did. If what you do during that year earns you a scholarship, or allows you to figure out what it is you want to do with your life, you will have a significant advantage over your peers who simply dove in head first. The track that everyone seems so obsessed with being on– highschool in 3-4 years, followed immediately by 4 years of college with a potential for undergraduate and graduate programs, followed by a 9-5 where you complain about how you’re operating below your skillset and being underpaid– is somewhat overrated.

Do what feels right to you. Take your time, research your options. Learn what those options are, find out what you can afford. If you’re concerned about money, spend two years in a community college, continuing dance and completing classes you pay a fraction for relative to almost any private or public university. Graduate with an associates and an idea of what you want to do, continue your education with a fraction of the debt of your peers will accumulate. People have a tendency to look down on community colleges, especially those whose families expect them to be the smartest and most mature. I used to do the same thing. It’s unfounded, it’s elitist, and it costs people thousands of dollars. If you need time or money, remember that it’s an option.

I hate it when people say follow your heart. It’s terrible advice, because in most cases it simply isn’t feasible, or you have no idea what your heart wants because emotions are almost impossible to translate into long term life plans, and it leaves you feeling unfulfilled when you try and fail, or you over commit and realize only once you’re in way too deep that this is not what you need to be doing. That’s what I did.
Follow your head, listen to your heart.