What's So Special about Age 18?

Rethinking when students start college

In the college advice guide I’ve started to write this summer, there will be plenty of chapters on how to choose a college: how to think about fit and cost, whether to pay attention to college rankings, how much or little to make of location and selectivity, whether to go public or private… But first, I want families who read the book to grapple together with two prior questions that can reshape every other question they’ll ask before and during college.

Why go to college? is a natural starting point, so much so that I started drafting that chapter last fall. But as important, though easier to overlook, is a second question: When to go to college?

I fully expect most students who read the book to take the path made traditional over the last century or so and go straight from high school into college. But even if they take that route, I’m going to start by suggesting three other options — if only to continue to help students think through their motivations for going to college and their understanding of what happens there.

1. Don’t go at all. After all, only about 40% of Americans aged 18-24 are actually in college any given year.¹ And I didn’t think I could ignore the argument that more young people should consider careers that don’t require a college education. But I also point out that a growing number of careers require more than a bachelor’s degree, not less.

2. Take a gap year. It’s an intriguing idea, made more popular by a particularly famous teenager, and I share some of the benefits pointed out by researchers like Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson. But I don’t want to make too much of an often expensive option that no more than 1-2% of high school graduates avail themselves of, even when a pandemic forced many colleges online.

3. Try early college. Like many colleges and universities, Bethel has invested heavily in “dual enrollment” options that let high school students take Bethel courses from Bethel professors. As I wrote early in the life of this newsletter, I’m cautiously optimistic about this approach, which can reduce the cost of college for families and provide students with academic opportunities and challenges that high school courses (even AP and IB) can’t offer.

But “early college” isn’t for everyone. As I wrote last summer, “if it was a mistake to assume that almost no 16-year old could thrive in college, it’s as mistaken to assume that almost everyone that age can.”

Why? Let me invite you all to help me finish the chapter and answer a basic question: What’s so special about age 18? Why should most students finish high school, then go straight into college?

For the record, I was 17 when I graduated from this private K-12 school in Maplewood, Minnesota, but only because I skipped most of 2nd grade. While I took four Advanced Placement courses at Mounds Park, I didn’t do any actual college work until I got to William and Mary (image: CC BY-SA 4.0 McGhiever)

Let me get the ball rolling by brainstorming three ideas, then I’ll invite you all to support or rebut these arguments and to suggest your own: