The College Fix

Turning Point USA is preparing to launch a nine-month program called Prep Year that will serve as an alternative to the traditional college pathway, offering nearly full-ride scholarships to those accepted into the program.

The program seeks to provide high school graduates with time to mature and develop discernment skills with a Biblical lens prior to stepping onto the quad, organizers say.

“TPUSA Prep Year is a solution to the indoctrination, dysphoria, and lack of critical thinking we are seeing on college campuses today,” Charlie Kirk, who founded and leads TPUSA, said in a news release. “In just nine months Prep Year students will be better prepared for life than most college graduates.”

The first class will begin in September, said Ty Gooch, director of the Prep Year Program.

“We will be using excerpts from good books to help the students learn to think critically about many matters of life, virtue, beauty, logic/reasoning, but we will do so in a way that takes advantage of the governing truth found in the authoritative Word of God,” Gooch told The College Fix via email.

The cost for those accepted into the program is minimal, as donors will cover the estimated $20,000 per-student cost, including housing and materials, its website states.

“This is a strategic investment in the unparalleled preparation of future leaders and culture-shapers of our nation,” the Prep Year’s website states.

It is in-person and run at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. The program has already accepted some students, and the application remains open on a rolling basis until all spots in the program have been filled, according to Gooch.

Students who participate in Prep Year will be able to apply what they learn to a variety of paths including college, military service, trades, public services, homemaking, or ministry, Gooch said.

“The aim of prep year is to prepare students to lead well-rounded and biblically exemplary lives as engaged citizens who use their influence for impacting our world for God’s glory,” Gooch said in an interview with The College Fix.

Students will learn about the Bible, the great books, and crucial founding documents.

“By studying the Greatest Book: the Bible, the Great Books of Western Civilization, and America’s Great Documents: the founding documents, all taught by outstanding instructors, guest speakers, and mentors, these next generation leaders will gain critical thinking skills, be equipped for leadership, and grow in character and maturity,” said Hutz Hertzberg, Turning Point Academy chief education officer, in a news release.

Prep Year is a division of TPUSA’s Turning Point Academy, which includes 100 affiliate schools and 300 affiliate members, Gooch said. “We help schools K-13 embrace the 5 C’s of Schooling: Christian, classical, conservative, collaborative, and cost-affordable,” he told The Fix.

Prep Year provides students with the opportunity to become better prepared for the life path they choose.

For example, the Gap Year Association, a nationally recognized nonprofit dedicated to making the foundational year off more accessible to high school students, recommends gap years to students looking for the opportunity for personal growth and to clarify their life goals.

Turning Point’s Prep Year is more academically involved than the typical gap-year program, said Julia Rogers, founding director of En Route Consulting, a gap-year consultancy. But, she added, it seems to offer an alternative pathway that is comparable to ones offered in similar programs.

“I think it features a lot of elements of what we would consider a gap year — self-inquiry, mentorship, experiential learning, etc.,” Rogers told The Fix.

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IMAGE CAPTION & CREDIT: A screenshot of Turning Point USA’s Prep Year webpage / Turning Point USA

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