parents of college students - feedback, please

[poohandwendy]

I can't really add any more than what has been said, it obviously depends on the classes and the profs.

I won't do it, mainly because there is no way to know ahead of time, for sure, whether or not those few days will make a huge difference. (ie, what if she also gets sick during that same semester...what if the workload is more than she expected, what if one of her profs is very strict about attendance) IMO, just not worth it.

IMO, it's just so much easier to plan vacations with college students around their breaks because you know what they will be well before the academic year starts and their breaks are pretty decent chunks of time...so for us, there is no reason not to just plan it when she does not have classes.

(ETA, my DD goes to a smaller state college and has many classes that are small, fwiw)

 

[poohandwendy]

LOL, and I just have to add...becase we are paying for her schooling, we are too broke to plan a family wdw vacation right now...

 

[kpm76]

What kind of colleges did you people go to? I went to two nationally known schools (one for undergrad, one for grad) and believe me the entire school would have flunked out if people were docked letter grades for missing a class or 2.

This all depends on the University and what type of classes they will miss. Survey classes and giant lecture halls are generally easy to miss and require little to no make up work, small labs and graduate level classes are definately nearly impossible to make up.

One or two days is fine, generally speaking but a whole week would be a different story (not sure how long the OP was thinking for her vacation). I had a class that met 5 days/week my Freshman and Sophomore years so even missing a few days, I would have fallen behind. This was a required course, the Development of Western Civilization, for every student for the two years.....big committment.

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

I have to agree with others. This is up to your child to determine.

My college wasn't big by any standards. Some classes were small, some large. Some professors took attendance, some didn't. Personally, I never missed a class. My classes were fast paced classes. Some were only once a week for 3 hours. If you missed a class, you missed an entire chapter in the text book. I also had professors that would dock grades based on bad attendance. Honostly, it seems like that is what a lot of professors are going to. They take attendance now and it matters.

You pay a lot for college. I know my college had horrible statistics. Less than 10% graduated in 4 years. 50% took more than 6. This wasn't because the classes were hard (oh trust me they were) but it was because students would cut classes or play games on their laptops in classes instead of learning. If your child doesn't feel comfortable taking time off, then try to reschedule the vacation.

 

[antmaril]

My son is a college freshman. I know he woudn't do it.

We went to WDW in January, but he was on his Christmas break. There is no way he would go with us if he had to miss school.

 

[klmall]

I too am astonished that some colleges dock grades due to absences not for quality of work or test and quiz grades. I don't think any state school around here does that! Our high schools do that for unexcused absences but not our colleges.

My son is a sophomore in college and can generally select the classes/days of the week he will attend class. This past semester he had no Monday or Friday classes by choice giving him long weekends.

Since we plan to go to WDW next October to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary and have him come along we chose a time he has "reading days" and he will hopefully be able to schedule his classes next fall accordingly. He will miss one or two days of classes at most for this special occasion. There is NO penalty at his college for absences which I think is a mature way to handle 18 - 22 year olds! And this is a public liberal arts college that is ranked in the top 5 in the country so this is not a backwater institution by any means.

Yes, some of his classes are fast-paced but they are all small and professors very willing to work with students one-on-one.

 

[azgal81]

I think you should ask your kids. I graduated from college a few years ago. I know some classes the smaller ones are pretty strict about attendance and if you miss so many classes your grade would drop. But then other classes like the large lecture hall classes normally aren't that important since your kid could get the notes from someone else or sometimes the teacher puts them on the internet. My brother actually had a surprise exam in one of his classes the day before spring break. Wasn't that nice of the teacher??

I did ditch some classes in college but there were some that I had to be there! Odds are your kids have classes they could ditch then some they could be there.

Is there a reason you couldn't go in the summer when the kids would be out of school??

 

[Snowysmom]

I think it would depend on the student and the classes they would have to miss. Some professors have strict attendance policies while some have none at all especially if it is a big lecture class. Also, is the work easy to make up and can the student get notes. My older DS is a junior in college at a large niversity and he would not willingly miss a class. Could you schedule the trip for a time when your student is off? We schedule our vacations for the summer because of this issue. I know WDW is busy but it is still alot of fun.

 

[ChibiJones]

I'm in law school now. I'm in my last semester, and one of the things I'm looking forward to is being free from the academic calendar. Off-season, here I come. In my experience, there has been no university-wide policy on skipping class, so it's up to the individual professor how they want to handle it.

There are ways to do short trips. All of my classes this semester are Tues. & Thurs., so that leaves Fri-Mon for a long-weekend getaway. Sometimes, the professors know they will have to cancel a class, so that would free up some time. Also, I would never book anything without getting the syllabus to know what the workload is like.

Don't forget, your college student will probably be done in May. Finals at my school end May 17th. That's a few weeks before the younger set get out which will help with crowds.

 

[momrek06]

To the OP re: missing college classes...my DS is a sophomore in a Catholic college here in the Northeast. He is an Altar Server weekly at the college campus Masses. Earlier this week a Priest passed away who was elderly and with the college for many many years. Many Priests and Faculty and Alumni will be attending his Funeral Mass (today A.M.)! My DS told me Thursday he was requested by Campus Ministry Director that they would like him to be one of many serving the Mass for this Priest.

My DS goes to his Prof of his 10:30am class and asked if it would be okay to MISS class as he was going to be serving Mass for Fr. D! DS' Prof said.... I would like to see you (repeat of the 10:30am class) at the 12:30pm class. PERIOD!!!

Bottomline: Like many of the posters, this is a call made by your child, they know better than anyone, if his college or his prof's will be bothered/upset/or FINE with your child missing their classes.

I think so much is covered in even ONE class that missing MANY is difficult to make up the missing notes/work!

College is so much different than high school. You are mature and responsible to get into a college, then you need to make those determinations maturely and responsibly re:missing class.

Good Luck in whatever you and your family decide!!!

 

[WatchinCaptKangaroo]

In some of my classes if you missed a class you dropped a grade automatically. Some classes it was impossible to get an A if you missed a class because the points for class were more than the points for homework.

Some classes never took roll and tested on lecture only so it'd be hard to miss.

Some classes said you only have to show up on test days, I test from the book, but you may miss extra credit.

It all depends on your childs teacher. And this decision should soly be your childs.

 

[rigs32]

You also need to remember that in high school, most classes meet every day all year. In college, classes meet from 1-5 days a week for 15 weeks. That's a lot fewer sessions. It's very easy, especially in science, to miss a foundation concept and be confused for weeks to come.

Also, how fair is it to expect a prof to essentially reteach things your child missed? It's one think if they just didn't get it or were sick, but expecting extra work to go on vacation?

 

[momsgonwild]

At my son's college attendance is taken in each class. He is only allowed to miss so many days, and it is not many. Classes that actually pertain to his major is even stricter about attendance. I agree, ask your child about attendance guidlines, and if he feels comfortable about missing.

 

[iggbees]

yeah, the problem is that like the poster before me said, you only have class maybe twice a week, and skipping a class could be detramental to your grades. i went to a school where even if i was sick, i still went to class. my parents and i were paying a LOT to go to school, i took every minute seriously.

try scheduling around breaks, that's my suggestion. my school had a whole month off in january, most of my friends went away on vacation during that time.

 

[Miss Inga Depointe]

Also, how fair is it to expect a prof to essentially reteach things your child missed?

And the problem is, that just isn't going to happen anyway.

College teachers have different personalities, but one thing that's pretty consistant is that it's not like when a high school teacher feels a responsibility to make sure that everyone gets everything.

In college, material is presented and it's so much more the student's responsibility to make use of it. A teacher may or may not be laid back about a kid missing a class, but not many of them are going to go to much trouble to make sure that the kid gets the stuff he missed.

 

[DVC Sadie]

In some of my classes if you missed a class you dropped a grade automatically. Some classes it was impossible to get an A if you missed a class because the points for class were more than the points for homework.

ITA. When our ds went to college if he missed a class his grade dropped considerably but he learned fast that he would rather show up for classes than skip.

 

[kpm76]

I was asking DH about this over lunch today. I posted that it would have been a big deal if I skipped more than one or two days of classes, esp. my freshman and sophomore years. DH said it would have been no problem for him to skip for a vacation (and he went to an Ivy league school). He said there were some classes he barely attended and still got an A or a B. It got me thinking about another issuse and that is who is absorbing the cost of the college education. DH's parents paid for his entire tuition, room and board or rent, books etc. My parents paid for a good chunk of mine but I also took out a Stafford loan and had to sign off on it every semester. My theory is that in most (not all) cases, when a student has some sort of financial responsibility for their education, they are less likely to skip and more likely to think about what the education is costing them. DH agreed 100%. Sorry, OT but thought it was interesting.....

 

[Pinnie]

My youngest DS graduated last year from a Big 10 University and in his junior year, he got called for Jury Duty. The court wouldn't excuse him and his profs gave him a ton of grief when he served. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place!!! He served and ended up repeating a class in the summer.

pinnie

 

[momrek06]

My youngest DS graduated last year from a Big 10 University and in his junior year, he got called for Jury Duty. The court wouldn't excuse him and his profs gave him a ton of grief when he served. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place!!! He served and ended up repeating a class in the summer.

pinnie

That exact same thing happen to my son in his senior year at a private catholic college in the Northeast....

We live in MA.

I noted on the letter coming from the Courthouse...(now this was 2 years ago) that "if he/she was a fulltime student" there was a notation you made on the JURY LETTER as to when POSSIBLY you would be ABLE to serve.
I wrote he would be available after June 1st.

He received a letter subsequent to that one that said JURY DUTY JULY 1st!

He served gladly and he did NOT interfer with his college schedule AT ALL.

I am surprised your court system did not have some thing like that in place on just the simple possibility a person just could not make the date that was scheduled.

 

[poohandwendy]

My theory is that in most (not all) cases, when a student has some sort of financial responsibility for their education, they are less likely to skip and more likely to think about what the education is costing them. DH agreed 100%.

Not sure I would agree with that theory. Mainly because I believe that if a student is mature enough to equate signing a Stafford loan with personal responsibility, then they certainly are mature enough to respect the money their parents are dumping into their education. I would feel differently if they had to pay cash upfront, but signing a loan that they are not responsible for now?

I do agree there is a correlation, but I think it has more to do with the fact that kids who are paying for their own education are more likely to be the ones who are there because they really, really want the to be there.

The students whose parents are paying the full costs are more likely to be ones who are 'expected' to go, and many may not have had a great desire to be there in the first place. And many may be less focused because they have been spoiled (which usually goes hand in hand with less mature). And maybe more kids who have parents who pay the full ride are not pushing very much personal responsibility alongthe way either? I think there are alot of variables.

I just do not agree that a kid who has no problem blowing off class on their parents dime would be any more likely to care if it were the govts dime...let's face it, the student loans are not really reality until you have to start paying....

IOW, signing a piece of paper means nothing if you are immature. If you are mature, your parents paying for your education will mean something.

I think it is a maturity and respect issue more than anything. JMHO

(btw, when I say more likely I am not meaning every time or always)