Your phone alarm rings. The sun is peeking through your blinds, but you hit snooze and rollover. You do this a couple of times. Next thing you know it’s 8:07 and class started seven minutes ago. It’ll only take you a few minutes to get to your class, and an even shorter time if you roll in the sweats you slept in. But what’s the point? You decide to sleep in and skip class.

When you’re in high school, skipping class has different consequences. You’re supposed to be in school. You’ll get reprimanded, maybe even sent to detention, or worse (if it happens again and again). You’re behind on lessons and your parents are mad. But when you’re in college, skipping class is different. You have more autonomy about where you need to be and when. You won’t get hit with the same consequences you did in high school. You’re not going to be hunted down and there’s no detention. However, when you’re in college or university, you’ll be fronting the cost of these classes which makes the stakes a lot higher. 

The cost of skipping class goes beyond that of “Oh I missed the lesson for today, I’ll catch up eventually”. It’s a financial cost. Every time you skip a class, you waste money. 

Each class has an individual cost and when you don’t show up you are wasting your money. If you are taking out loans, you’ve basically taken out a very expensive loan to sleep in or play video games. There’s a trade-off to everything so think about your future self and what your future self will have to pay off when you skip class and not take advantage of the learning and networking opportunities before you.

How much is each class worth?

It’s fairly easy to break down how much a class may be, by checking either the cost per credit for a class or the flat-rate tuition that you may be charged as a full-time student. Take that amount and divide it by a rough estimate of how many classes or sessions (times you meet up) there are for that course. 

Examples:

Let’s say your university charges $8,000 a semester for tuition. You’re taking 5 courses this semester, meaning each course is worth $1,600. There’s about 30 class sessions for each course (twice a week for 15 weeks). Each class is worth $53.33! 

OR

Your university charges by credit, or perhaps you’re a part-time student. The cost per credit is $600. The cost for a 3-credit course is $1,800. This course only meets 15 times a semester (one lecture once a week for 15 weeks). Each class is worth $120!

You wouldn’t throw away $53.33 or $120. The reality is that this is how much each session is worth. College and universities are no strangers to upping your costs and implementing additional fees to your tuition. If you took out loans to pay for school, you have building interest that you also have to pay off one day. College is expensive. By recognizing that each class has an individual cost, you can begin to place more value on the time spent in a course and how often you actually attend. After all, college is an investment. Every time you don’t show up, you’re wasting your money and your/college’s time. The last thing you want is for these absences to add up, resulting in you doing poorly in a class. You don’t want to risk getting a bad grade, possibly failing, and having to spend more money on tutoring or retaking the course another semester.

Now, let’s be real. It’s unrealistic to expect you to have 100% attendance every semester. Sometimes you get sick. Sometimes you sleep through your alarms. Sometimes you’re hungover. Sometimes you need to take a mental health day. Sometimes you just really need the time to do something else (like catch up on homework for another class!). I’ve seen full rosters at the beginning of the semester, to empty lecture halls nearing the end of the semester. People skip class. It happens. While you don’t need to be a perfect student, you should be a mindful student. Don’t let skipping class become a habit, or else it’ll cost you.

So what can you do about it?

If you’re susceptible to skipping or even thinking about doing it, here are some ways to not skip class...or at least be better at it if you do:

1. Oversleeping and missing your class? Figure out how to fix your sleep schedule. Sometimes this is just a self-discipline thing and you just need to be better about not sleeping at 2 am. Maybe your roommate is also a night owl but leaves the light on, ruining your night’s rest. You need to be upfront about how you can ensure a night of better sleep.

2. If you know you can’t wake up any earlier than 10 am, don’t register for any 8 am (or early) classes. Be realistic about your schedule. Additionally, if there are ways to ensure you can register for classes before others, do it. There is usual class registration schedules set up by your college or university, make sure you are familiar with when your registration time is. If you’re late to registration, you’ll end up with all the class time options that no one wants.  

3. Remember the cost and understand why you’re skipping. Most people don’t think, “Oh today’s lecture is worth $60,” but if you do the math, that simple calculation may deter you from skipping out. It’s a simple reminder that everything has a cost and time is money. Be realistic about why you’re missing class. Are you actually burnt out and need a mental health day? Do you just need a few extra hours to finish up an essay that’s due for another class? Or is senioritis just hitting and you’re just more comfortable in bed? 

4. Make sure you have a reliable friend or buddy in each class. I don’t just mean your best friend because they might not be a great student in that class either. Have an idea of who to contact or build rapport with classmates so they can fill you in on anything you missed. Bonus if they are willing to let you copy their notes.

5. Pay extra attention to due dates and the syllabus. Don’t foolishly skip on an important quiz day. Make sure you know the attendance policies of your classes. Some professors could not care less because it’s you wasting your money, but others are the opposite. You not showing up is wasting their time as well and they may keep track of attendance. If you noted upcoming due dates, don’t forget to confirm these dates with your classmate because you’ll never know if the professor announced a rescheduled date or new information on the day you missed out. 

6. Just because you’re skipping the physical class or lecture, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be doing the homework or assignment that’s due that day or week. If you’re missing out on physically being in the classroom, or logging into the Zoom session, that does not mean you should be neglecting the course altogether. Don’t forget to be doing the actual assignments or reviewing notes/presentations and if you’re doing a lot of group project work, don’t be the jerk that never shows.

7. If it’s the beginning of the semester, you might be gauging what classes are better to skip than others. See what kind of teaching style the professor does. Is the professor off-the-cuff and only presents things from his or her own custom lecture presentation? Or is all the material straight from the textbook? Are they the type to sneak in specific examples from class into their exams? Some classes are harder to bounce back from if you miss it once or twice. You can also browse ratemyprofessors.com to read more about a professor’s teaching style and how strict they can be.

8. Acknowledge the actual style of the class. If it’s just a professor teaching concepts to a large lecture hall, you can probably go unnoticed every once in a while, but if you’re in a smaller discussion-based course, your absence and lack of participation will be very easily noticed. 

9. If you have to attend a class that you genuinely think is a waste of your time, consider how to make it more productive. Yes, it’s important you’re paying attention to the lecture being given, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t multitask in some of my classes -- from sending emails, to doing homework assignments, doing readings, or even working on presentations. 

10. Be strategic about absences. Some professors or school policies may be very upfront about how many classes you can actually miss. Too many absences can automatically deduct your letter grade. If you know you’re only given 1 freebie, save it for an emergency(like when you’re sick) or when you’re swamped at the end of the semester. If you are allowed 2-3 absences, you can probably be a little more flexible.

While I’m not condoning skipping class, I am reminding you that skipping class is costing you money! And as a college student, every dollar matters. Is the trade-off of you skipping class worth it when you are paying down that student loan debt?

Photo by Isabella and Zsa Fischer on Unsplash