Students sometimes feel that attending class in college is optional. Everybody's an adult. The student is paying for it. If the student doesn't feel the need to go to class, that's fine. Professors don't care if you show up or not. What's important is how the student does on tests.

True? Not really. There are some partial truths in those statements, but they are more than outweighed by the misconceptions. The fact is that most students who end up on suspension or probation usually end up there because they don't go to class. It's that simple.

Class attendance can be a confusing area because there are as many attitudes towards it as there are faculty on campus. Some faculty care a great deal about attendance and take roll. Some apparently don't care at all and never take roll. Some only take roll some of the time. Some allow a certain number of missed classed. Others base a portion of the final grade on attendance.

But no matter what the faculty member does, it is a serious misconception to think that class attendance is not important.

The College has an official class attendance policy. It says that a student can have one unexcused absence in a course for each credit the course is worth. If you are taking a three credit course you get three absences. After that, "the instructor has the prerogative to reduce the student's grade by one grade per absence beyond the number allowed."

So, a student who misses three MWF classes in a three credit course is ok. If a fourth class is missed, and the student was earning an A in the class, the instructor can lower that grade to a B. If the student was earning a B the instructor can lower it to a C. Miss two more classes than the limit and an A can be dropped to a C, and so forth.

By the way, this example is based on a three credit MWF class. A three credit TTH class would allow only two cuts under this policy. Only one cut would be allowed for a night class that meets once a week.

Notice that the policy says that the instructor "has the prerogative" to reduce the grade by this much. The instructor is not obligated to do so. Most instructors are not this strict, although College policy supports those who choose to follow a strict class attendance policy. Students should read each instructor's Course Description for a statement on his or her attendance policy.

Sometime students may have trouble making it to class because of illness, sick children, a temporary shift in a job schedule, or a family crisis. The key is for students to stay in touch with faculty and alert them about such problems immediately. Most will be willing to work with students and see them through a problem.