In many college classes, attendance is optional, and more students than expected take advantage of it. I have walked into classes with 250 students enrolled and found only 30 attending the lecture. This year, several of my teachers have even pleaded with their students to come to class. They do not want to have to implement strict attendance policies that could harm their students and induce stress, but many teachers see no other way to get their students to come to class.
Students lead busy lives. With class, long work hours, clubs and maintaining a social life, it can often be difficult to find time for everything one wants to do. Choosing to spend one’s time one way may feel like doing so at the expense of something else, causing students to sacrifice going to class in order to maintain the other aspects of their lives. In many classes, it is possible to do well without attending lecture because the material is available online, reducing the feeling of necessity once associated with going to class.
What is most surprising about this rampant absence from class is how expensive attending college has become. In order to go to college, students must find thousands of dollars each quarter for their tuition, from scholarships, loans, working or receiving money from others. None of the ways of getting tuition are without high costs to oneself or others, so failure to attend class while paying that much money for the privilege can be shocking.
Another aspect that keeps students at home is the exhaustion and burnout that inevitably result from a fast-paced academic environment. Midterms and finals can feel like a constant race to keep up with all of the material, and it can cause students to skip class, even to study for other classes they deem more important at the time. Early classes make this problem even worse. Academic burnout leads to sleep deprivation in many cases, so when students have early classes, sleeping in can be extremely tempting. When choosing between class and sleep, it can feel like a matter of one’s health.
Although it may be startling to see how many students do not attend class when given the choice, there are many aspects that contribute to this choice. When teachers have lax attendance policies, students are able to decide what they want to prioritize, and in many cases, other things can feel more pressing than class. The financial investment necessary to attend college puts a high price on not attending class, but with everything online, some students no longer rely on in-person attendance to succeed.