Attendance in college - Professor explains everything in 2024
About the author
Hi there. I am the prolific professor with 15 years of experience teaching online and in-person. I have a graduate degree. I have a passion for education. But I’ve also worked in the professional world (outside of education) too. Thanks for visiting.
Do professors take attendance in college?
Professors are not forced to take attendance by their university and have discretion when taking attendance in college. But professors will typically have to take attendance the first few weeks of class for roster certification purposes.
As a former professor, I tried a variety of attendance options over the years.
Some years, I counted attendance as a grade, while other times I made attendance voluntary. I even tried using attendance for extra credit.
After many years of trying different attendance options, the data showed that requiring attendance usually resulted in more students showing up regularly.
Why do college professors require attendance?
College professors require attendance because when students are forced to show up, they get better grades and retain more information, one professor said. Not only that, but students find friends within their classes and are more connected to the college.
This strengthened their commitment to the class because they had friends who would hold them accountable if they didn’t attend. And by having more friends at college, they seemed to be happier because they weren’t all alone.
I noticed a lot of improvement by requiring attendance. I would make it a participation grade. Sure, it might be controversial to require attendance in college, but I found that the benefits outweighed the risks and I wouldn’t have done anything differently.
Is attendance mandatory in college?
College professors can require attendance. However, professors have a lot of discretion in their grading scales and may not require attendance at all. In my random sample of professor’s syllabi, I found that 60% of professors required attendance for a grade or by scheduling pop quizzes.
As a former professor, I have had some students who were able to make good grades despite not coming to class. But I really have to warn you if you think you can get by without attending is that it is uncommon to do well in college if you don’t go to class.
To answer this question, I randomly reviewed 50 syllabi within one college. I found that 60% of professors required attendance and used it as a grade. But the vast majority allowed for some excused absences for emergencies.
I noticed that some professors would make attendance voluntary but they had pop quizzes each week. Another professor said that they would randomly take attendance throughout the semester.
You can see that there are a lot of creative ways to require attendance without actually requiring it. You can be sure that there will be some method the professor uses to get students to attend.
Even though only 60% of my sample required attendance, other professors did so indirectly. They would use in-class assignments or group work to encourage attendance. I wouldn’t bet on skipping class in college because they’ll be taking attendance or they’ll require you to attend by assigning work during class.
Does attendance matter in college if you have good grades?
Yes, attendance matters in college, even if you have good grades. As a former professor and college student, attending your classes regularly helps you in more ways than you know.
For example, when you attend class, you are socializing with your peers and learning communication skills. If your professor asks the class questions, you are thinking critically and participating in class discussions. It can boost your confidence. You are also exposed to the college atmosphere, and you just might make more friends by attending class.
You may learn and retain more information by attending college classes more frequently. I have seen some students who rarely attended class and could still perform well in the course, but this was RARE. I am telling you that it didn’t happen often so don’t expect to be one of those students.
If you are showing up to class, you will strengthen your commitment to college and feel more focused on your coursework. In between classes, you can study or socialize. And by doing these things, you are honing your marketable skills for employers.
Don’t underestimate networking with your professor too. The more your professor sees you in class, the better they can get to know you. You never know when you need a favor.
College isn’t just about getting good grades, but about the entire experience. And part of that experience is attending your classes.
I would ask yourself why you don’t want to attend classes. Are you trying to avoid people? If so, this will be a problem if you are going to enter the workforce. By attending college, you can help improve your self-esteem.
If you don’t want to attend because you have to work or take care of kids, then you might think about an alternative like online classes instead.
Either way, I would dig deep and figure out what you are trying to avoid by not attending your college classes and deal with that first.
Why is class attendance in college so important?
Attendance in college is so important because you are participating in class and learning the information. Your professor has prepared a lecture for you and that information is significant to your success in the course. If you don’t attend, you cannot learn that information as easily as you could have if you would have attended.
Another reason why attendance in college is so critical to students’ success is that the students are on campus more often. By being on campus more often, the student is making friends and exposed to the college lifestyle. This can help students feel like a part of something.
And you just might be more likely to graduate if you attend classes more regularly.
As a former professor, I can tell you that the students who regularly attended seemed to have better grades in my courses. Not only that, but they were outstanding students in other ways. It’s not to say that students who didn’t show up were bad or anything, it’s just that I never got to see them enough to know.
Does attendance effect grades in college?
Attendance may effect grades in college but it depends on the professor’s policies. Professors may require attendance and count it as a grade in the course. Or professors may require pop quizzes or randomly count attendance throughout the semester.
So, students are influenced to attend to avoid missing a pop quiz or random attendance.
During my random sampling of 50 syllabi at a college, I found that professors used creative ways to require attendance even if they didn’t count it as a grade. So, don’t expect to skip class in college even if attendance isn’t a grade.
If you don’t attend, you might miss a pop quiz or extra credit. And you are missing the lecture. This is vital to your success in the course. You need to learn the information. Another problem with skipping class is that you are missing out on the college experience.
I would say that attendance could be directly related to your grades in college because your professor may count attendance as an actual grade AND it’s also indirectly related to your grades because you may not learn the information and perform bad on exams.
Do professors care about attendance?
Yes, most professors care about attendance in their classes. Professors take a lot of time to prepare for their lectures and dedicate a significant amount of time organizing their materials. If no one is there to hear it, what’s the point in showing up and working so hard.
If students don’t show up, professors cannot have expansive class discussions either. And when other students see so many other classmates skipping class, they may be more inclined to do that too. It can have a domino effect.
Also, students who skip may struggle more and require lots of extra attention. It can be more work for professors if students don’t do well and they have to meet during office hours with those students to talk about their failing grades. These students will likely require more in-depth feedback too. This will take up more of the professor’s time so they’ll care about attendance.
As a former professor, I cared about attendance a lot. When students attended, I could feel their excitement about the subject and this made me have more enthusiasm. It made me happy to see students love the subject just as much as me.
Do college classes take attendance?
Yes, college classes may take attendance but it depends on the professor’s policies. It is not usually a university policy to take college attendance for every class, so it is up to the professor and what they want to do.
As a former professor, what I typically notice is that colleges will let professors make their own attendance policy and sometimes they require attendance, and sometimes they don’t.
When I was a college student, my professors rarely took attendance. However, if you miss a lot of classes, your grades are really going to suffer.
Another thing I have to mention is that the vast majority of universities in the United States will take attendance the first few weeks of classes because they have to do something called roster certification that is necessary for state funding. It is very important that you attend during this time because it could impact your financial aid.
If you don’t show up to class, the college could drop you.
Of course, it might not be the same for all colleges but I wouldn’t risk it.
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