Gap Year Association

YES! Happily, the Gap Year Association have built a strong relationship with Portland State University through it's Education Abroad office, in our home town of Portland, Oregon, to offer students up to 18 quarter-credits per semester of time on any GYA-Accredited program that operate internationally. We've created a chart to help outline your steps to earn the credit, but mostly it's letting your program know which courses you want, paying the flat fee of $1,700 (barring late-fees / cancellation-fees), creating a 5-minute account at Portland State University, doing the coursework, participating fully in your program, and requesting your completed official PSU transcript.

You can access the full Course Descriptions from your GYA Accredited gap year program, however, here are course summaries that you're eligible for.

It is a flat fee of $1,700/semester USD that you'll pay directly to your program. If you choose to only take one class for 4 quarter-credits, or 4 classes for 18 quarter-credits, it still costs $1,700. There is a cancellation fee of $600 that applies after the PSU-withdrawal deadline, or, once you've had a preliminary email exchange with your Instructor of Record kicking off the intention to work together, whichever comes first.

Always consult your tax specialist about these options. That said, in most cases 529 funds can be paid directly to the student for use on both tuition and non-tuition expenses. However, in many cases financial managers want to follow the letter of the tax rules and that typically means payment directly to the higher education institution (Portland State University), which is not possible given current relationships. The university will only allow students to matriculate through PSU if they are a current or long-term student as it brings challenges to student rules and codes of conduct - in essence the student is now bound to two separate rules that are not designed as such.

PSU operates as most larger, Accredited State institutions do, on a quarter-credit basis. This means that three-quarters (Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer) usually count as a full academic year. "Full Time" for most colleges is USUALLY, 12 semester-credits which equals 18 quarter-credits, or, a ratio of 1.5:1.

Basically, follow the course descriptions and participate fully in your international accredited GYA program. You will be required to keep a daily journal that will be submitted to GYA's grading instructors at the end of the program. If you are taking four courses, only one journal needs to be completed with daily entries. After that, you'll have to likely read a relevant book or two, engage with the local populations, potentially do a short presentation to your cohort, and submit a significant paper for EACH course you complete. If you're taking four courses, this will likely mean one journal and four papers get submitted to your grading instructor in a self-addressed stamped envelope so we can return your journal to you. Journals are kept strictly confidential as the academics require us to do so.

GYA administers a small team of independent grading instructors the Portland State University verifies for degree and ability to teach. Each grading instructor holds an advanced degree in relevant subject matter to grade for lower-level courses.

GYA must submit a complete list of students to be enrolled four weeks prior to the start of the Portland State University term. Enrolling after that four-week window incurs a late fee of $100. Cancelling enrollment once you've connected with your instructor of record (typically 1-week prior to departure and done over the phone) will incur a charge of $600.

Students will have to submit all of their journals and coursework by June 20th / January 20th of the corresponding semester. For Fall, that would be January 20th. For Spring that would be June 20th.

Potentially. Many students are applying for admissions then deferring, and in a majority of cases the terms for deferral may include no allowance for credits, a limit on the number of credits earned, and/or not matriculating at another institution. We advise that students communicate clearly and directly with their university Admissions Officer in every case.

While it's clearly the student's decision as to whether credits are earned, however, we advise trying to limit credits to no more than a semester (18 quarter-credits from PSU) in order to have the most possible leverage available at your receiving institution, while acknowledging that they may still enforce some limits.

We suggest students:

1. Consult with GYA's growing College Deferral Policies web page.
2. Try and negotiate with your institution to make an exception for a high-quality gap year, citing GYA and external metrics for the amazing outcomes. Make the case that a gap year was needed, will propel you successfully through academia in less time to greater effect, and that a semester of credit was required to make the cost pencil out.
3. In many cases students are receiving more in merit-aid as a result of their gap year. You should ask for a financial aid reassessment at the commencement of your college time.
4. Consider not deferring but still putting together all of your application materials for easier submission while on your gap year. Deferrals are strongly encouraged because it helps students compile all of their academic records centrally when logistics and resources are available.
5. Consider canceling your deferral and re-applying to the next institution.
6. Acceptance to any institution can never be guaranteed and students are STRONGLY discouraged from accepting admissions to multiple universities: they do talk and it can end badly!

Make sure the contact hours match what you're doing on your program ... which are outlined in the course descriptions (eg, homestay hours, lectures, volunteer hours, etc.). Students are largely independent learners, with support of staff and peers, and a grading instructor back home.

Over the past 10 years, we have experienced that the courses transfer well ... although not 100%, and often times the only way to get a guarantee is to actually transfer the courses. That said, many institutions are creating online tools to search for course equivalencies based on what has been successfully equated+transferred in the past. In an ideal world, students will take the GYA course credit title (eg., ANTH 103) and ask for “pre-approval equivalency” from their receiving institution. With a track record this can be fairly easy. At many smaller institutions these equivalencies may not yet be in place, making it incumbent on the student to try and drive the process typically through the registrar's office. IF students get a challenge, they can always encourage the receiving institution call the Education Abroad office at Portland State University to hear from an actual administrator at the college that everything is on the up-and-up. It's worth noting, that credits from Harvard do not always find a home at every institution as there are a variety of complexities: namely whether there’s a course covering similar learning outcomes at the receiving institution.

Credits transferred towards General Education Requirements are less helpful than those as counting towards a major, however, all courses that are transferred count towards a student’s diploma, and may be listed as equivalent to everything from an equivalent first- or second-year college course, to an A/P equivalence, to an IB course, to a dual/joint-enrolled program, and more.

Your primary administrative point of contact for all credit is your GYA Accredited Gap Year Program. For specific questions about your course work, you should contact your GYA Instructor of Record who will be assigned to you. Instructors of Record are vetted by Portland State University for academic integrity and quality. If you have questions about PSU, or anything else credit-related, you should start with your GYA Accredited Program and only then attempt to contact GYA and then PSU.

At the completion of your coursework, you will receive an actual PSU transcript that shows you as a PSU student. When you register for courses, PSU will add two "place holder courses" of INTL 399 to your "unofficial transcript." DO NOT order your transcript until you have verified in PSU's Vikings Abroad online system, that your courses are accurately represented. An "unofficial transcript" will not be helpful to you for downstream credit. Once the instructor of record sends completed grades to PSU at the end of the program, the new grades are updated, a process that takes no more than 6 weeks and typically only 2 weeks. If a rush is needed for ongoing transfer or an "academic progress report," the student should contact coursework@gapyearassociation.org to see about a special case.

All re-writes are the discretion of the grading instructor and must be pursued privately between the student and the grading instructor. Extensions, and exceptions must also be cleared by the instructor of record.

This must be explained to the grading instructor and, at their discretion, an alternative arranged. Typically, they have allowed a student to do their required presentation on return to a group of adults. The grading instructor may require proof this has been done by means of a letter or recording, at their discretion.

These specifics to a course need to be navigated with the grading instructor directly - a role that GYA will assign to you. In some cases it may be easy to come up with an alternative (other types of documentation on program), but in most cases a lost journal will unfortunately affect your grade by between 10-30% per course because it is required and a part of the coursework. We of course understand that students are supposed to journal every day, but that there will be times journaling every day isn't possible so back-filling a few days at a time is understood. What is NOT okay is back-filling more than a few days, a month, or the entire semester - this will adversely affect the grade.

Matriculated students matter in deferral terms sometimes. At PSU, a student is not a full-enrolled / matriculated student unless they are taking FAFSA. This would mean they have applied to PSU and fully been admitted and packaged with a financial aid award. If a student is ONLY taking college credit through PSU, they are not counted as "matriculated".

Students can cancel their coursework typically up until a month prior to the end of their gap year semester. Students should contact their Instructor of Record, and GYA, to work to have the student's record officially removed from Portland State University - failure to do this may result in a failing grade for all courses. This should typically only affect a student if they intend to matriculate at Portland State University.

The courses are designed to be fairly universal, with the obvious exception of language-based credits. As long as the contact hours are relevant for your regions, you should offer those courses to your students.