Taking a gap year before starting at harvard. Whether its work or college or both, either on campus or online, there are plenty of options and more students are taking a different path and thats our cover story this week. 18yearold Jonathan Paul took a swing at another route to a College Degree after dropping out nine years ago. I kind of was in limbo for a while and looking for a way to complete my degree. Reporter but he didnt go back to a physical campus to get it. He recently earned a bachelors degree from Penn State University in finance after completing all of his work online. I approached it from more of a learning point of view instead of the end result of just, you know, getting a grade. Reporter nearly 3 million College Students are taking courses exclusively online bypassing the traditional campus experience. While they may not have the same opportunities to socialize and network as students on campus, they are gaining valuable skills. Our students tell us that they come away learning more than perhaps they learned in a residential class and as an added benefit, they got more comfortable using technology along the way, which is a great skill to have in the marketplace today. Reporter online degrees are becoming increasingly more accepted in the Academic Community and employers. 71 of College Leaders in one study says the outcome in onlineonly education are the same or superior to facetoface instruction. Another survey found nearly half of middle and senior managers 47 said they would be extremely or very likely to hire someone with an online degree. Employers today are placing an online degree on the same level Playing Field with the more traditional university. However, with anything on your resume, you need to be prepared to speak to the benefits of your online degree. Highlighting your creative thinking and ability to work in a group are Key Attributes to many employers, so is expertise in using social and digital media. A lot of Team Meetings are being don conducted through media. I think the biggest misconception is that you go at your own pace and knock it out within a week but really its organized within each week. I have a 4. 0 technically after going back and i think that demonstrates the commitment ive made and that ive been able to implement a plan. Another attribute he hopes will catch the attention of employers. About 75 of College Students choose the traditional oncampus experience but the number of onlineonly students and those who take a gap year is growing. What will employers think of these different paths . Caroline is a career coach and author and ethan is executive director of the american gap association, a nonprofit that accredits an online degree and equally is one better than the other . Right now, the online degree is still new. Certainly for certain skills, the technical skills, the technical degrees, you can argue that its on par and certainly in your example with penn state, that has a brand name offline as well so it will carry over for an offline degree but they will favor the brick and mortar campus. Before heading to harvard, the first daughter is going to take a gap year. Theres been a lot of talk about the pros and cons but really what is the goal of a gap year . When its done well, what it does is frames the rest of your life. If you do it in a somewhat structured fashion where sort of their some reflection involved, students are trying to pioneer and explore a few options for what not only is a career might look like but also the college right in front of them. Caroline, what do employers think of a gap year . Is that something for students to do going from high school to college, taking a break . Is that the best route . I think its going to depend on what they do during the gap year. Again, employers gravitate towards the familiar. They are going to be looking for academic growth, Work Experience and so if someone is doing something during that gap year, that contributes to both of those, that can be great for the resume. Ethan, what do students during the gap year . 1 are taking a gap year and who are they and is it mostly children of wealthy parents . Because ive read that some of these programs can cost several thousand dollars to participate if its an international program. Its true. We estimate about 1 . Functionally what they are doing over the course of the gap year is a variety of different things. Some component of work, i like to advocate for that because i think its important that students have skin in the game and internships and a little bit of adventure. Part of what this has done when its done well, its a process of stretching you. Exploring new boundaries within each student. A little bit of trying the unknown is something that we definitely encourage. As for the financial question, you know, i certainly think that students who have more access to finances, you know, they have more choices in front of them, inevitably. Thats the world we live within. Theres a budge of activities and opportunities in front of students to do this very low cost or get paid. Caroline, how do you sell this to an employer if youve taken a gap year . How important is it for to you spin this . Absolutely. You really need to explain why you decided to it and in terms of whether youre working or studying and show how its relevant to them. If you can do that, then its going to be great. Thank you so much, caroline and ethan. Thanks for joining us. No matter what route job seekers are taking, they still have to prep for interviews. And a growing number of them may find in spite of what their parents say, their obsession with candy crush may actually pay off. Reporter Kayla Tausche explains. The first round of interviews these days may be a mobile game like mac. How many of you play any games . A skill most millennials already have, colleges are holding mass competitions and the company uses a scoreboard as their starting point. Every game as their own focal point but we keep it very short, to like ten minutes. Reporter enter stock fuse. The reason that we chose to use a stock trading game for the institutions and the reason they ar excited by it is about lowering the barrier entry. Its intimidating to a lot of people. People who may be good at it. Reporter its not a cakewalk. There are rules to follow and risks to manage so Companies Get valuable data and hopefully a more leveled Playing Field for applicants. Its not about what you claim you can do. Its about showing that you have the actual skills. Corporate offices with ceos of some of our companies, for example, in getting totally hooked and almost missing the flight. Reporter while most Companies Put their own unique spin on the games, you can practice both stock fuse and apps are available for anyone to download, although most anyone said it is easy to lose track of time. For on the money, im Kayla Tausche. Heres a look at what is happening in the next week. Americans opened their wallets faster than expected. Retail sales rose by 1. 3 , the strongest rise in a year. Amazon showed the strongest growth. This is always a closely watched number. It was a wild week for stocks. On tuesday, the dow had its best day in almost two months but gave almost all of them back on wednesday on weak earnings by disney. Stocks fell later in the week. It might be time to think about refinancing. Mortgage rates fell to a threeyear low with a 30year loan at 3. 75 this week. Thats at least related in part to the yield on government bonds. It could be a battle of retail walmart will Start Testing twoday shipping service that will require a subscription of 49. 99 a year. Its an effort to take on or fight off amazon which mails about seven times the number of packages as walmart does in north america. The greatest Art Collection hidden in a vault or in a place you wouldnt think of . Very few people have been around to see it. Well take you there. And later, looking to find meals that wont break the bank . How to get the most bang for your buck. As we go to break, a look at how the stock market ended the week. We were born 100 years ago into a new american century. Born with a hunger to fly and a passion to build something better. And what an amazing time its been, decade after decade of innovation, inspiration and wonder. So, we say thank you america for a century of trust, for the privilege of flying higher and higher, together. Many people have an image of iran frozen in their minds from decades ago, americans held hostage, riots, and it is an ancient place that is rapidly changing. Michelle car rus s ka rus sa cabrera found some ancient art. Reporter this leads to a basement which hold as secret treasure. Behind this door, one of the greatest collections of modern art in the entire world. Picasso, pollack, warhol, just to name a few. Hidden away. The pieces were collected in the late 70s by wife of the shavi ron in 1979 she and the shah escaped. The great works of art stayed behind. The collection has been kept in the basement since 1979. Its not clear why. Believed to be the most valuable in the collection, this pollack estimated to be worth 400 million. Our team was allowed in but we were only permitted to take photos with our phones. And nbc bureau chief and correspondent shot a story here eight years ago. We believe it may be some of the only video that exists. The manager tells us there are between 1500 and 1600 pieces in the collection. There is no public catalog. Now the Museum Displays only one at a time. Currently, its this one. However, you can buy post cards of most of the works that you cannot see. Only one piece is known to have left the collection, called woman 3. The iranian government did not sell it but exchanged it for four pages of a manuscript called the book of kings which then sold it to a hedge fund manag manager. Fascinating stories that you found there in iran. Iran now the sanctions have been lifted and is trying to get into the business of selling oil and how is production going there . They are trying to increase it dramatically. The government let us go there with very rare access. There was a huge field of storage tankers, 28 million barrel capacity. At the worst moments of the sanctions, they were only e. Porting 7 Million Barrels per day. They are up to 1. 8 Million Barrels and would like to get to 2. 2. They are still trying to get 400,000 barrels per day. Youre one of the few that was able to get there. What is it like on the ground . You went to a market . Yeah. If you go to the tourists, youre going to be one of the few. 5,000 tourists. They are trying to dramatically increase that. What youll notice probably is that there is all kinds of investment needed in iran if only they would open up the country to investment. So if you go to market, you know that, boy, they havent had any kind of modernization of retail in a very big way. The vast majority still go to the bazaar for their dominant Retail Experience and a lot of them want american brands. They are dying for american brands. So if the government allows investment, its going to be a key area. Fascinating coverage. Thank you for joining us. Its a pleasure. All right. Up next, were on the money. Revving up a deal, well tell you the best way to find a good used car. And how to negotiate the best price. And later, this entrepreneur put an athletic scholarship on hold but it seems like it paid off. His remarkable s brownsex machine by james 38 million, thats how many used cars and trucks were sold last year. If youre one of many people like i am trying to figure out how to get one, its generally not a pleasant experience. What do you need to know before you wade into the used car battle . Joining us now is michael quincy. Thank you for joining us and being here. Tell me a little bit about what people need to know before they go in and buy that used car . The thing about used cars is that you take an incredibly awesome financial savings, 2, 3yearold used car has gone through the steepest appreciation. Generally its a really good automotive value. However, you have to keep in mind, it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If youre getting a great deal on a used car, make sure you get it checked out. If go to a private dealership versus a dealership, what is the better route to go . Theres pros and cons of each. A small oneoff used car lot might have a really competitive pricing. Maybe they are a local business person so they care about the reputation. However, when you go to a franchise dealer and you say im interested in one of your used cars, they have the backing of a larger shop, if you want to call it, a larger maintenance facility. And they also will offer a certified preowned option which might be a good way to get into a decent car that would give you a little bit of warranty afterwards. What does that certification really mean and going to the franchise dealership to get certified preowned, is that the best way to make sure youre not getting a lemon . In some ways, youre probably going to be paying more but you might be getting more. The certification process in every auto company has a different check list but supposedly the car goes through the inspection process and makes sure that its all up to speed and probably will give you a little bit of a limited warranty at the end. Now, you know, joe schmo can say, hey, my cars are certified. They are not necessarily backed by anything of substance. If you have something that goes wrong with your certified preowned car, you have recourse with a larger company. So youve looked at cars from larger companies, used cars that you think are great. What are some that have the best offers right now . Camry, accord, rav 4, prius, they have done well in consumer testing and safety features but above all, excellent reliability. What are some of the mistakes that people make when buying a used car . You have to make sure whatever car you get, you get it inspected. A good mechanic can see where there is damage and where there is dirt and mud, water damage in places you normally wouldnt expect. You really need to make sure that you get any used car inspected. All right. Thats a key tip. A lot of folks dont do that. Its important. Thank you for joining us, mike. Up next on the money, a look at the news for the week ahead. And working out a new athletic business, how this entrepreneur will take on nike and lulule t see any sweat through this . You cant see any sweat. Wow. You can fly across welcome town in minutes16, or across the globe in under an hour. Whole communities are living on mars and solar satellites provide earth with unlimited clean power. In less than a century, boeing took the world from seaplanes to space planes, across the universe and beyond. And if you thought that was amazing, you just wait. I my mom wants to understand, but she just cant see it. So excedrin worked with me to show my mom what i experience during a migraine. Excedrin relieves my pain and symptoms. But their dedication to migraine sufferers doesnt stop there. Oh my god. Im so sorry, honey, that you go through this. Now i finally feel understood. Experience more stories at excedrin. Com for more on our show and our guests, go to our website, otm. Com. Follow us on twitter at on the money. Here are the stories that may impact your money this week. Earnings from walmart, home depot, sysco, lowes and target. The beach boys pet sounds and bob dylan. C on tuesday, well see how much factories produced last month with Industrial Production report. On wednesday, the federal open Market Committee will release the minutes from its last meeting and on friday well get home sales for april. Look out lululemon. A new competitor is in the athletic ware race and tyler is the entrepreneur behind outdoor voices, a new clothing line putting a Feminine Touch on the workout wardrobe. Kate rogers has more. You cant see any sweat . You cant see any sweat. Wow. Better, faster, stronger, motivates some but doesnt work for everyone. Tyler haney never quite got it. Running over hurdles, that makes sense but realized that there was a powerful combination about being feminine and athletic. Another thing that never worked for her, the materials in most athletic lines. She was meant to go to college but took a year off and attend attended parsons in new york city instead. While in school, i dealt with technical material, the Science Behind raw materials. From there, outdoor voices was born. She launched her business in 2013. The brand has the spirit, the youthful energy. Being beyond without experience was helpful at the time because id ask and be in peoples offices that probably if i had more experience i wouldnt have. There werent boundaries, there werent rules. Unlike the uber competitive nature of the business and many of the consumers, today, 27yearold is running her own race and its working. In the last year, sales have increased eightfold. My mom was the best kind of coach growing up and she had the same, try your best, baby and whether she was sending me to school or soccer practice or a slumber party, from start to finish of an activity, its getting out there and working your body for your mind is a lot of what we say. Outdoor voices has one physical retail store and new york city popup shop did so well that they are opening up a permanent store later this summer downtown, sharon. Ill have to check that out. I know. It looks great. Thank you so much, kate. Thats the show for today. Im sharon epperson. Becky is back next week. Thank you for joining us. Neck week, how to stop the robo calls from invading your phone. Each week, keep it here. We are on the money. Have a great one and well see you next weekend. A breaking news in bucks county. Lye on the scene of a deadly fire at ben salem and investigators tell us it is considered suspicious. The commander and chief and commence met. The president will speak at rutgers graduation today. The rain has come and gone, but left with some cooler weather today. Good morning this is nbc 10 today. Thank you for being with us. Lets get to karen