There are very good reasons for the high costs of some volunteer-focused gap-year programmes, said Ethan Knight, executive director and founder at American Gap Association, in Portland, Oregon.

“The best volunteer organisations have a primary contact on the ground that they're paying even when students are not on site,” he said. “There’s also a solid risk-management plan and insurance to evacuate, medical and mental health consultants in case something should go wrong, and often times a paid staff or educator whose job is to supervise student-safety but also to help educate and reflect with students.”

Still, when it comes to volunteers making a real difference, the length of time on the ground is essential. “[The impact] is exponential the longer the student is on site, but increasingly easy to be of detriment the shorter on site,” said Knight. While the hope is for the local students to interact with and learn from these communities, there is a “decent chance that the project isn't part of a larger vision for the community thus leading to a much-reduced benefit if at all,” Knight added.

There was also the “possibility for US students to create drama through a poor understanding of local mores and customs, a potential lack of what the community really needs, which in most cases are skill development and not a painted mural”.

Cost challenge

Ellan Dickieson was completing her final year of an undergraduate programme in psychology at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown, Canada when she decided to spent eight months in Botswana in 2008. She hoped to gain some useful experience needed for a master’s degree in social work she planned to pursue.

The challenge was to come up with C$4,000 ($3050) said Dickieson, 30, now working as a creditor relations specialist at Credit Counselling Canada.