As to your question ... is it worth it???  There is nothing else that you will probably ever do in your entire life that will be as worth it as  taking a year off to study abroad.   My mom and dad wouldn't agree to let me  go abroad for an entire year ...   they did finally (after my Rotarian sponsor spent a few hours talking with them) agree to let me do a short term exchange.  A few  years later, when I was in college, I was able to go abroad again through the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship program.
 

Each experience opened my eyes to a world that I never knew existed. I went to Germany when I was 16 (http://www.geocities.com/texas_schnecke/germany).  I had studied  SPANISH in high school and I didn't know a word in German when I was told that's  where I was going.  It didn't matter ... the people there were awesome.  I am  still amazing friends with my host family.  My family here has hosted five of  my friends that I met while I was there (including my host sister and her boyfriend) for at least a month on just visits.  I've been back to  Germany once and am planning a return trip there this coming summer.
 

RYE isn't just a one time thing ... when you do it, you make friends  for life.
 

 I know how hard it is to tell your parents I need $$$$$!!!  Especially when they don't have a lot.  I was lucky enough to have my Rotarian sponsor in my life at that time, and he believed in me enough to get my Rotary club to help  sponsor me.

 In this life ... do not ever let money be the option for a missed  opportunity.There are plenty of people in this world who will help you  realize your dreams if you just ask (sometimes you may have to ask a million people, but you'll find someone). 

Try bake sales or something until you get the money raised if it's just money that's holding  your parents from letting you go. In reality, $4000 (or however much the long term program costs) really isn't  that much.  Rotary is making NO NO NO NO MONEY on the  program...it all goes  back to you to pay for the time you're there.  Your parents will  actually spend more then that on feeding you, etc... during the year you'd be here. It's just really hard to come up with $4000 off the bat.  I know that .

Right now I know you probably think that by taking a year off, you're going to be "behind" all of your friends in graduating from university.  BUT  YOU AREN'T!!!!!!!  You are going to be SOOOO much farther ahead of them.

Here's  why:
1.)  You will grow as a person and become more mature then you'll ever  know when you're overseas.  You just have to ... because although you have a family to take care of you, you're still a wee bit on your own.

2.) You will learn to see the world in ways that people who haven't studied abroad just don't understand.  I have a hard time here still trying to defend sterotypes ... trying to teach people that what they THINK about  the world (b/c of Hollywood or whatever) is not how it is.  I still refuse  to eat at places that call french fries "freedom fries..." because (A) I know people from France and I know that just like you and me, they're good people ... you can't hate a group of people for supporting their government  and their beliefs and (B) because I know that french fries are from BELGIUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :-)
Before I left to study abroad, I had a pretty narrow view of the world.  I  thought my view was big ... but boy did I realize how narrow it was  when I arrived in Germany and later in Scotland.

3.) Studying abroad will change your family, too.  My mom and dad both  still  hated the Germans for stories that my grandparents had told them about the  Germans during WWII.  It was VERY hard for my mom to let me go to   Germany  (and I often think that is why God sent there instead of a Spanish speaking country).  It was even harder for her to host my sister when she came  back with me.  BUT after she met my sister she learned that everything she had been "taught" wasn't true.  Now she wants to go back with me to Germany and her eyes have also been opened.
 

My twin brother, (aka Mr. Home Body) also wants to travel and  see the world now after meeting all of my friends from over there.
 

4) Studying through Rotary is studying with a family!!!!! I am a Rotary junkie ... I believe in this organization more than anything else in the world.  When people ask me what do I want to do after  college ... the only answer I can give them for sure is to become a Rotarian (which isn't a career, but it is the one thing I know beyond a shadow of a  doubt that I want to do).  No matter where you go in the world, if you go with Rotary, you have a family ready and willing to take you in.  There is no other study
abroad program (that I know of) that offers you that benefit.
 

Example:  This past summer I went to Mexico to study Spanish with the University.  I was there for a month and I found 3  Rotary clubs in that one town.  I met a past district governor and past club  president who both invited me to visit their families and to their club  meetings.
 

 I was scared about going to Mexico on a program that for the first time wasn't sponsored by Rotary.  But once I found out about the Rotary  clubs there, I knew I didn't have to worry because if the whole program  would've fallen apart, I still had a "family" there.

5) You're an AMBASSADOR!!!!!!!!
 How cool is that title???  :)  Seriously though ... you are
 representing your state America.  A lot of the people that you meet while you're  abroad will never have met someone from your state.  You will be asked a million questions about politics

... if you go to Europe you'll learn that  how other countries view our political leaders

... you will  learn  that the death penalty is hard to explain 

... you will learn probably more about your country while you're overseas then you'll ever learn in a history or government class.

You may not always like what you hear ... you may not always agree with what  you hear ... but you will learn to view the world through a  totally new set of glasses.  It's a pretty awesome responsibility and Rotary is there  to help you through it.
 

 I don't really know how to explain the magic of Rotary Youth Exchange  ... you kinda just have to jump in and experience it to understand.  Every time I  hear the word I get little tingly all throughout my body!

If you're worried that you're going to be behind your friends on  graduating from college ... don't be.  I graduated from high school in 2000 ... I will  graduate from college in either August or December of 2005!!!  It will have taken me 5 1/2 years to graduate with a BA degree.  MOST of my friends who  never did the year abroad will be graduating this May ... it will have  taken them 5 years (so I guess I'm 1/2 a year behind in that sense).  But  what are you really in a rush for????  You have the rest of your life to work in
your career ... you only have now to be a youth exchange student and then a college student.
 

 I call the path that most American students are on "The Tred Mill  Effect."  Their parents went to high school ... went to college ... got married  ...  got a job.  They're going to high school ... going to college ... getting  married ... getting a job ....  It's the same cycle over and over and   over and over again ...  WELL friends...it's time to get off the tred mill ... do something different ... experience the magic of Rotary Youth Exchange.

 I could type and type and type about how awesome this progam and this opportunity will be for you ... but I hope you're getting the picture.

The only thing that I still want to add is this ... if you do decide to do the program do LONG TERM and not SHORT TERM!  Short-term is awesome,  but  once you get there, I PROMISE you will regret not doing long term.  The  ONLY  regret I have from my high school experience is that I only did a  short term program.  The year that you are over there will fly by SOOOOO fast that  it will feel like a month or two.  I know that because the month that I  was in Germany felt like a week.