TRAN: Skipping class is not worth it
Column: Hung Up
At the start of every semester, the whole campus seems to be full of life. Lecture halls are filled with students lining the rows of seats, and buildings are filled with people both in and out of class.
Dining halls can have practically every table occupied for dinner service after the 5:10 p.m. and 7 p.m. classes end. The buses are packed, even during class periods. And between class periods, when everyone is trying to get to their next destination, buses can be so full that crowds of people are left waiting outside the doors, unable to fit any more in.
But as the weeks go on, the campus gradually becomes more and more empty. Lecture sections have more and more room. Lecture halls are only full when there is a midterm or final exam. Buses get less and less busy — where even during the rush between classes, there can be plenty of room for passengers.
Naturally, this is due to students beginning to skip classes where attendance is not enforced. If the course is not taking attendance or having a grade for that day, then there seems to be no price for skipping it. But the upfront cost of college is being ignored.
Attending Rutgers as an undergraduate costs approximately $6,800 to $8,000 per semester for full-time in-state student tuition, depending on the school. There is approximately another $1,800 in mandatory fees, assuming the insurance charge is waived, excluding any textbooks or online homework assignment platform access codes.
Disregarding housing, the cost winds up being approximately $9,000, and assuming an average 15-credit semester, that means $600 per credit or $1,800 per 3-credit course, as these courses meet twice a week. In a 15-week semester, that is 30 classes, so each class costs roughly $60.
In other words, every time you skip a class, you are wasting $60 that has already been spent. Of course, the costs are really for additional benefits as well, such as the overall degree, job placement and other opportunities associated with college.
But even if, say, half of that cost is being directed toward those external factors, it is still a large fee to skip class. If it were more apparent, many people would think twice.
After all, so many students scoff at having to pay $200 for a textbook, the increases in tuition or any number of things outside of school. People stress about making the most out of what they pay for upfront, be it the meal plan or season tickets, and the same is true for classes.
And again, this is just for 80-minute classes. Even if it is rounded up to 2 hours for commuting, could that time be worth more than $60?
Maybe if that time value is well spent, then skipping class may be worth it. Even if not directly earning money in a job or otherwise, skipping a class you are doing fine with in order to study for another class that requires more effort or time could be beneficial for the overall semester's grade.
But if those 2 hours are just being wasted, then the money associated with them is also being wasted. And then, the time cost can build on top of itself if the course material gets confusing or challenging.
Eighty minutes of being in a class with a professor lecturing is often more productive than the same time of studying the same material away from class, be it from a textbook or an asynchronous method. The professor usually has a lot of teaching experience, can present the material in an understandable way, especially as it is applicable to the class, and you can directly ask questions.
Professors often supplement the textbook or their notes with other materials that are only presented during lectures or may want assignments done in specific ways. Skipping could mean showing up to an exam and not knowing how to answer the questions made to focus on the intricacy of the topic, compared to the more generalized study materials.
Spending the initial effort and time to go to class would save potentially hours of studying time, again making it a productivity boost. And going to class will probably increase your understanding to have better results on the days that matter.
Of course, people will have to miss classes one day or another due to any number of possible reasons. But voluntarily skipping classes can lead to a host of accumulating consequences, overall wasting time and money. And, after all, we are already paying (quite a bit) for them.
Tyler Tran is a sophomore in the School of Arts and Sciences majoring in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and minoring in Economics. His column, "Hung Up," runs on alternative Mondays.
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