Students weigh costs of skipping class, give reasons for decision

The average in-state student, taking 15 credit hours, pays more than $250 each week for classes. The average out-of-state student pays almost $840 a week.

Therefore, missing just one class costs, on average, between $17 and $56.
Still, skipping class is a part of college culture.

“I don’t skip classes that I know I need to go to. You can miss a couple lectures and be cool, just find them on OneStart,” sophomore Kendra Williamson said.

Williamson said she believes that people who skip class all the time are just lazy.
Although she said she skips classes due to being tired or due to other class projects interfering, she said she does aspire to be more like some of her friends who attend class all, or most, of the time.

“I wish I could be more like them. That’s hard to do,” she said.

Williamson might wish to be more like her classmates, but she said she does not truly see herself ever making it through a full semester without missing a single class.

“Life gets in the way sometimes. Part of college is living life, and life has a tendency to throw stuff at you,” Williamson said.

Perhaps life does get in the way, but sophomore Heather O’Connor said she must qualify her reasoning behind skipping class.

O’Connor said she is a visual learner but that not all professors teach that way.

“Sometimes I feel as though I’m better off teaching myself my own way,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor said going to class can sometimes be counterproductive to the way she learns how to do her assignments.

“I think that a lot of teachers just teach the way they want to teach and don’t really focus on how students learn better,” she said.

Freshman Michael English said that getting to calculus can sometimes be troublesome.

“My 8 a.m. I don’t really get to a whole lot, mostly because it’s calculus,” he said.

English said he sometimes wants to skip his Spanish class in order to go to various sporting events but that he doesn’t due to a simple academic factor:
attendance.

English said several factors, including attendance, play a role in why students might or might not attend class.

“Morning classes are probably the big part (of why students miss), and games, big projects, I guess if you’re behind in another important class,” English said.

Although English said he finds these reasons justifiable, many other freshmen might not.

Senior and resident assistant Kristiana Duvnjak said freshmen seem to skip class less often because they’re new to college life.

“It seems like they’re going to class because it’s still early for them to know better,” Duvnjak said. “Yes, tuition is expensive and you really should go to every class, but you can do well and still miss here and there.”