Why do we skip?

 We’ve all been there. It’s a Friday afternoon, you haven’t done the reading for class and there’s freezing rain outside. You weigh the options and, in the end, decide that missing this one class won’t be the end of the world. Students skip classes for various reasons, but most of us are guilty of missing an occasional class without thinking twice about it. 

Although there is no official survey data on this subject, here’s our take on the five most common reasons students skip class.

At a school with such a big bar culture, most popular Main Line bars offer reduced drink specials on the weekdays that are just too good to pass up. With Flip & Bailey’s on Monday, Kelly’s Dollar Drinks on Tuesday, Erin’s Quizzo on Wednesdays and The Grog on Thursday, partying during the week can be hard to resist. It is often even more tempting than getting your eight hours of sleep a night.

In addition, most Greek Life organizations opt to have their socials on weeknights because they receive reduced prices when booking venues. Getting up for that 8:30 a.m. class the next morning is more difficult when you didn’t get home until 3 a.m., especially if you are nursing a killer hangover.  



2. The weather When you look out the window and snowflakes are falling, staying cozy in bed seems much more appealing than treking to class. Not only is weather a deterrent for on-campus residents, off-campus students may prefer the more enticing option of curling up with a cup of hot chocolate and watching reruns of The Office rather than braving the slippery roads.   In the opposite sense, that first day of summer sunshine after a long winter makes being crammed in a classroom on the third floor of Tolentine seem like a terrible alternative. Not all classes are lucky enough to have a spontaneous professor who takes the class to sit on the grass in the Grotto on those sunny days. When the sun is shining so brightly that lying out on Sheehan Beach feels like the only option, weather can be a factor in the decision to skip class.  



3. You aren’t prepared for class It is easy to get into the mentality that if you haven’t done the work, then you may as well skip because you won’t be able to follow the material. In fact, many students skip because they have “better things to do.” “A student once used the excuse on me that they could not come to class because they were busy planning a party for their fraternity,” says Catherine Kerrison, a political science professor.  “I find that students often have unexcused absences from class because their priorities lie in finishing work for another class,” says Craig Wheeland, associate vice president of academic affairs.  


4. You  overslept We can all agree that 8:30 a.m. is early. In fact, this class time has lower registration rates than most because both students and professors do not want to wake up that early. However, because of the number of classes offered and the number of classrooms needed to accommodate them, classes must be spread out between early mornings and late nights. While athletes and ROTC students have no problem getting up early, most of us have a daily fight with ourselves over whether or not to press the snooze button just one more time.  Early morning and night classes are skipped more often than afternoon classes, which according to Kerrison, is why many professors set their sights on midday classes. 


5. You’re sick “This is my ninth sick day this semester. It’s getting pretty tough coming up with new illnesses. If I go for 10, I’m probably gonna have to barf up a lung. So, I better make this one count.” While Ferris Bueller may have been an artist at faking an illness, not all professors are going to accept so many excuses. Although the Health Center does issue notes confirming a student’s visit for freshmen, they do not do so for upperclassmen. Instead, whether the student is telling the truth or not is at the discretion of the professor. So why aren’t upperclassmen granted excused absence notes from the Health Center? 

             “The Health Center will generally only be involved to help certify a serious illness, rather than the short visits students make for a check-up when not feeling well,” Wheeland explains. “Our approach allows the Health Center staff to focus on meeting the health needs of the many students visiting the Center throughout the year without having to determine if each visitor should be excused from attending class,” says Wheeland.  While saying you are sick seems like an easy way out that most professors will believe, the University does take measures to make sure students are not unnecessarily skipping class by deeming a non-serious illness as an unexcused absence.  Runners up: travel conflicts, lack of interest in the material, avoiding a classmate.

However, there are many Villanova students who have never skipped a class. David Desiderio, junior marketing major has only had two unexcused absences in his time at Villanova, both times because he accidentally overslept.

“You can only get so much from the textbook; you need to get stuff out of the discussion and you are just hurting yourself by not going,” Desiderio says.

Similarly, Wheeland agrees that participation in class is invaluable.                 “Participation in class discussions is a learning experience and attending class helps you understand the reading assignments and ideas from the instructor’s perspective, as well as from the other students attending the class, which is something you cannot learn in a textbook.”   

“That’s what we’re here for,” Desiderio says. “I just feel bad not going. I feel that my excuse for not going isn’t good enough. If I don’t have a good reason then there is no point in skipping.”

So what kind of excuse does the University accept? According to the attendance policy, a valid excused absence must be one of the following:

•Approved placement activities

•Approved athletic participation

•Field trips

•Serious illness certified by a doctor’s letter that includes a description of the illness and specific diagnosis with the date of onset and prognosis and ability to return to class

•Death in the immediate family certified by documentation naming the deceased and the date of death

After these, all excused absences are up to the discretion of the professor, who sets forth an attendance policy in the course’s syllabus.

Freshmen, however, have a stricter and more regimented class attendance policy that allows students to miss no more than twice the number of weekly class meetings or they will receive a failing grade. 

 “The main reason is that we want students who are coming out of high school to have a smooth transition to college life,” says Wheeland.  

On those days when you are wondering if you should make the trek to class or skip, think of the following reasons and weigh whether or not it is really worth it:

-You are wasting your money.

-Would you pay for a meal that you would never eat? Most likely you wouldn’t. So why would you pay $38,000 for classes you aren’t attending? For every MWF class that you skip at Villanova, it costs you approximately $113.93.  For every TR class that you miss, it’s $170.89 out of your pocket. Guess how much it is per night class? A whopping $368.08.*

Also, the more you go to class, the less you have to study.

If you already understand the material come exam time, then you will have less information to study and to teach yourself. It is much easier to listen to a professor who knows the ins and outs of a subject and ask questions than it is to work out problems on your own. In the end, you’re saving time, confusion and a lot of stressful all-nighters. You may think you can understand everything by reading a book, but the explanations and interpretations your professor and your peers give you are invaluable.  It will probably take longer to find a classmate who will lend you his or her notes than it would to actually take them yourself.

Professors notice when you’re not there. Even if they seem laid-back, professors know who skips and who doesn’t, and they will likely think back to this when deciding your final grade.

*These numbers were found by dividing the cost per three credit hours ($4,785 according to collegeboard.com) by the number of times a given class meets per week.