Think twice before hitting that snooze button

Jodie Vanderslot | Contributor

Featured image: As the first month rolls by, students find themselves wondering if waking up for that class is worth the hassle. | Anil Beharry

You wake up every morning with two options: to go to class or not to go to class. You run down your list of excuses and seemingly valid reasons as to why you don’t really need to go, but can you really afford to skip?

University is an investment and it’s probably the four most expensive years of your life. It is also an opportunity that many are denied. Your parents or maybe even your keener friends will all tell you: go to class, study, get your degree. You will be talked to, advised and directed, all in the hopes of attaining the highest possible GPA your mind can muster.

Under the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, the estimated tuition as provided by Student Financial Services for a full-time course load is about $7,312, and almost double for an international student. Schulich School of Business’ undergraduate tuition for a full-time course load is $9,671.70. For 36 credits in a first-year undergraduate program in the Lassonde School of Engineering, tuition is $12,661.20. So roughly one lecture works out to be about $50 to $60, depending on your program and courses. Is that worth whatever you’re missing class for?

As attendance wanes through the semester, many students do not realize that the momentary relief they feel when they decide not to go to class is equivalent to an actual sum of money. Just because you do not see the waste physically happening doesn’t mean it’s not occurring.

When you decide to skip a class, a portion of your tuition is going down the drain. This also has a domino effect, potentially lowering your GPA, reducing the value of your degree and damaging your professional relationship with your professor and TA.

“Skipping classes is equivalent to not seeking or getting value […] for the tuition fees that you have paid. Falling behind in classes can add up exponentially in that skipping two classes can add up to more than double the impact of skipping one class. The same is true of presenteeism—where the student is in class physically but not mentally,” says Amin Mawani, professor of accounting and program director at Schulich.

Most students’ use of the internet during classes is irrelevant to the actual material being taught. We tend to disappear into the online world even if we’re present in the classroom. This is especially true in large lectures and introductory courses when we’re literally one face out of hundreds. In a crowded room, you feel smaller, it’s easier to fade into the background and escape into your own little universe. If you’re doing this, you’re attaining little, if any, information, much like if you weren’t in class at all. Listening to lectures in the background is not equivalent to learning, nor is it utilizing the resources we have so easily available.

“Just because you can skip class, doesn’t mean you should—you’ve made a decision. University is the opportunity to develop thinking for yourself, so put your mind to this and ask yourself, why am I skipping? Is it because I want to be entertained and I am finding the class to be boring? Or is it really more than that?” adds Joel Goldberg, chair of York’s psychology department.

Mawani points to research studies that identified student non-attendance patterns as signs of academic struggles, underlying mental health concerns such as depression and anxiety, over-influence from peers, alcohol and drug problems, family problems or mixed feelings over career direction. Skipping classes, particularly close to exam time can be more stressful than useful, especially because it can hinder academic performance.

“Research has shown that students with significant stress and anxiety are more likely to do poorly in their studies and more likely to drop out of their degree programs. Affected students are also likely to have higher rates of health service usage and lower or delayed prospects of sustainable employment,” says Mawani.

“If you consider that missing classes is really a sign of a more serious concern, then seek out help from one of our counsellors on campus. We are here for you,” adds Goldberg.

We all have a common goal: to graduate with a degree. The most effective way for us to achieve this goal is if we are active participants in our own learning. University is an opportunity and it boils down to a matter of respect: respecting the opportunity you have been given to attend school, respecting the professors and TAs who are there to aid in your education and respecting yourself and your future.

Make the most of your time here, but not at the cost of your education.