Designing Your Gap Year: A Practical Planning Workbook

A great gap year plan is detailed enough to execute but flexible enough to adapt. This hands-on course walks you through building a complete plan with the worksheets that experienced gap-year advisors use. By the end of this course you will have a written gap year plan including goals, a month-by-month schedule, a detailed budget, logistics and documentation checklists, safety protocols, and a re-entry plan for what happens after the year ends. What you will learn: - How to translate broad ambitions into three to five measurable goals for the year - How to design a month-by-month schedule that balances structure and exploration - How to build a budget covering transportation, lodging, food, insurance, visas, and buffer - How to evaluate programs versus independent travel on cost, support, and learning outcome - How to build a documentation packet: passport, visas, vaccinations, insurance, emergency contacts - How to set safety protocols including check-ins, money access, and communication plans - How to plan re-entry to university or work so the year does not end in a hard landing The course is structured as a workbook. Each module covers one part of the plan, provides a template, shows a filled example, and walks you through completing your own version. This course is written for students who have decided to take a gap year and want to plan it carefully, and for parents who want to help without taking over. By the end you will have a single document that captures the plan, and the year will start with clarity rather than improvisation.