Rarely do I go to bed before 3 a.m-and this dent in my sleep is not the result of General Chemistry lab. Instead, it is because at 1:30 in the morning my hall will often burst into intense political and philosophical conversations. Why?

Because my roommate and I both took a gap year.

On nights not spent in the hallway hosting a spontaneous political forum, we stay awake and discuss from our beds the implications of what we learned that day on our worldviews. These late nights have been one of the most valuable aspects of my daily life at college.

Brandeis students pursue their interests outside the classroom, which creates a great sense of tangible curiosity and appeal for outside knowledge to make its way onto campus. One way that students pursue their interests outside of class is by taking a gap year between high school and college.

Students who choose to take a gap year before entering Brandeis have an entire year's worth of worldly experience and perspectives to bring to the campus. For this reason, it would seem to be in Brandeis' best interest to encourage its students to take gap years. However, the opposite is done. Students who are awarded merit scholarships and choose to take a gap year are deprived of the final year of their scholarship.

In an e-mail interview with the Justice, Vice President of Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy said, "When a student is offered a merit award, the clock starts ticking because it is tied to a budget figure. If the student starts as expected then the scholarship will renew for the next three years. If a student defers, the funds are still tied to the year and budget that student should have started in. Thus they would only have 3 years left. Because these are real budget dollars we can only give out what we have."

While this system for allocating merit scholarships seems to make sense, it could be improved to allow students choosing to take a gap year to retain their scholarships. Perhaps Brandeis should include a segment on the application to allow students to make note of their plans to take a gap year. This way, Brandeis can budget to allow for the scholarship dollars for these students to come from the next year's supply, and thus will carry through with them for all four years at Brandeis.

Brandeis is an extremely expensive school, but it is worth every dollar paid. In an ideal world, everyone could afford to receive the incredible education and opportunities we receive here. However, money is a great factor for accepted students in making the final decision to attend Brandeis.

Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that many students at Brandeis do not qualify for financial aid, but covering the cost of such a costly education is still a great burden. Students awarded merit scholarships to Brandeis may be offered merit scholarships to many other schools. The fact that Brandeis refuses to extend the length of their scholarship to accommodate a gap year discourages worldly, curious students from either seizing the opportunity to take a gap year or from attending Brandeis.

Gap years offer the incredible opportunity to sit back and philosophize for an entire year without the stress of a busy school schedule. In a busy college schedule, this is unheard of. What if, for example, a student travels to Djibouti for a year and stumbles upon the only vegetarian aardvark during their travels? Shouldn't that student be more highly sought after by colleges because of the unique and enriching experience he can share with his peers?

Unintentionally, Brandeis is turning the gap year into a financial burden on gifted students. Perhaps, in addition to budgeting to allow gap year students to use the entirety of their scholarship, it would be in Brandeis' best interest to have a separate scholarship set aside for students who choose to take a gap year. After all, the gem that is Brandeis is a sum of its parts, and a fair percentage of the University chose to take a gap year before beginning their time here.

It is important to realize that in Brandeis' short 61-year existance, it has become one of the most prestigious colleges in the country. This is partly due to a student body that takes a sincere interest in their studies. Perhaps by becoming "gap-year friendly," even more late-night political discussions, a staple of college life, would flourish.