Travel Or College…Or Both?
International Travel vs. Higher Education

As the travel lifestyle becomes more and more popular on social media. More people, especially Millennials, are looking for ways to travel more in an affordable manner. I’ve come across many discussions in travel forums, articles, and podcast episodes that debate whether or not young adults should go traveling right after high school (or university), and skip going directly into the higher education system (or jumping right into a career after completing a 4-year degree).
What’s The Verdict? Travel? College? Or What?
I think it’s hard to give a definite yes or no answer to this question since humans are not a monolith. We all have different goals, aspirations and run at our own pace.
If you know for a fact that you want to major in STEM or any other career field where higher education is a must, then by all means go straight into higher education. For majors like medicine and law, you’ll be in school for a long time before starting your career, so it may be best to get started now. Studying abroad for a semester (or two), participating in short term travel/study programs through your school, and/or attending university abroad can still allow you to get your international travel fix.
If you‘re an athlete and want to continue your athletic career in university, then going to college may be for you, especially if you have a full scholarship to play. Being a collegiate athlete is probably the only reason why I don’t regret taking a gap year after high school. Even if you are an athlete, you can still take advantage of short term international opportunities during the summer months and/or off-season. If you go to a school with a great and well-funded athletic program, you may be lucky enough to play internationally during the offseason. My brother and his teammates spent a couple weeks in The Bahamas over the summer to play basketball.
How To Travel AND Receive University Credit
Many young adults feel pressured to pursue a degree even if they don’t want to. In the mindset a many, having a degree is a good safety net just in case their entrepreneurial venture doesn’t work. A great program to that allows one travel internationally AND study to receive university credit (via online classes) is the Global Degree Academy.
Source: Global Degree
What Is The Global Degree Academy?
The Global Degree Academy fills the whole that many traditional education institutions fail to offer: real world experience. The academy was inspired by the two Canadian founders Michael Graziano and Alex Hennessy, who started the movie by created a travel web series: Global Degree TV. Each academic year in the program is an 8 to 9 month tour around an entire continent (excluding the high-risk nations). Students who complete the entire 5-year tour around the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania will be awarded with a Global Degree as well as a university degree (upon completing the required credits). Some benefits of the program include:
- Earning a university degree while on the road
- Building an international network
- Embracing different cultures and people
- Discovering unique opportunities
- Allowing one to discover their passion(s)
Things included in the program consist of:
- Professors (with international experience) who travel with the students and assist with tutoring, facilitating field classes and group activities
- Accomodations included in each destination
- Ground transportation
- Worldwide insurance coverage
- Fastest, safest, easiest and most inexpensive travel routes
- Field classes, where students learn about culture and history of their current location
- A list of schools where one can take university classes online (or trade skills)
- List of scholarship opportunities to offset the costs
What Are The Qualifications To Attend Global Degree Academy?
The qualifications for this program is a high school diploma, a clean criminal record, and of course the tools needed to travel like a passport. The targeted age group are young adults between the ages of 18 and 30. Students who are currently enrolled in university, can join the program is they can transfer their classes online, as well as college graduates. Participants of the program do not have to complete all 5 years of the global intinerary; they are allowed to solely travel to the continents of their interest.
More FAQs can be found here.
The itineraries for 2018 and 2019 can be found here.
How To Apply
For those interested in applying a student can do so by clicking here, and you can use the code ‘NCooper’ for 15% discount on the $65USD application fee. There are also employment and partnership opportunities with the Global Degree Academy. Interested applicants can apply here.
*This post contains affiliates
