Taking a year off (or two) before college is something my DS15 & I are seriously considering for him. He has already expressed interest and I think it would really help his motivation to see what working for minimum age was like. My older brother really wanted to go this route and my parents wouldn't let him, and looking back on it he really wishes he had pushed harder. (It wasn't as common and my parents saw it as choosing not to go to college rather than deferring it.) College as a young adult didn't work out well for him. And I see a lot similarities between him and my son.
The big issue with taking a year or two off in my mind is what you do with it. Not going to college isn't sitting home & playing computer games. It is holding down a job, or going on a gap year program. The problem is most of the gap year programs as as expensive as a year in college.
