So today we are tackling the age old question,

is it ever worth it to skip a class?

Now, you're probably expecting me to say something like,

"Always go to class, eat your vegetables, I'm your dad,"

because I have a beard and I'm probably a bit older than you

but if I said that this video would be five seconds long

and it probably wouldn't be worth your click.

So instead let's look at this a little bit more objectively

because this is a question about skipping classes, yes

but it's also a more general question

about opportunity costs.

So let's get this out of the way right up front.

If you're in high school,

I'm not going up against the truancy laws here.

You should go to class, just deal with it.

Yeah it sucks sometimes.

Go to class if you're in high school.

If you're in college though,

the question becomes a little bit different

because in college now you're an adult,

you can make your own choices,

and you are choosing to pay money for more education

that is not legally required of you.

And that's the big thing here.

You're choosing to pay money for these classes

and every class you decide to skip costs you money,

and in fact, using some simple math we can break down

exactly how much money you're throwing away

if you decide to skip a class.

So let's say you're going to a university

like the one I went to

which charges a flat rate per semester

instead of charging per credit.

And let's also say

you're taking the standard 15 credit per semester load,

which means you're gonna have five three-credit classes,

each of which meet three times a week

and an average rate for semester tuition at this point

is about $4,000 for in-state public tuition

so we're gonna use that here.

So breaking all that down your cost per credit

is $266.67, which means each three-credit class

ends up being about $800

and since you're gonna go to each of those classes 48 times

over the course of the semester,

that means you end up with a per class cost of $16.67.

Meaning every single time you decide to skip a class

by the straight math you are throwing away $17

that you already paid

and you're no long getting the value for.

That example is the simple math-based way to put it

but it breaks down

when we consider a couple of other things.

Number one being not every class is considered equal.

For one, you're gonna have general education classes

which you don't care about as much as your major classes

and then for each individual class

you're gonna have certain sessions that are really important

because they're either tests

or the professor's giving away some vital information

you need for the tests

or on certain days you're just gonna have classes

that go over like edge cases or case studies

or something you really don't need to know about

in the future.

So, each class

is not gonna be worth as much as the other one

and furthermore, you need to think about

what the actual value of these classes is

because the value isn't the time you spend

sitting in the seat.

The value actually is the signalling value

your degree is going to give to potential employers

in the future.

Basically saying this person is qualified

to do the job they wanna do

and also the knowledge and skills

that your classes and your other college experiences

are gonna give you,

which will help you get those jobs as well.

Basically, your focus should be on the value of each class

as it applies to your earning potential in the future

because, make no mistake about it,

college is a business decision.

It's an investment on your part.

You're choosing to spend thousands of dollars

to sit in classes and take tests

and you're also choosing to sacrifice

many years of your life

that you could be otherwise working and making money,

and this is where the opportunity cost comes in.

You're sacrificing one thing of value

to gain something else.

So the earnings you make in the future from college

eventually need to outpace what you could've done otherwise.

This is the financial ROI, or return on investment.

And yeah, college gives you other benefits.

You learn things, you gain experiences, you meet new people,

but as Matt Damon so eloquently put it

in Good Will Hunting, "You coulda gotten all that

"for a dollar fifty in late fees at the library."

So, we're not gonna get off into the weeds

about all that stuff.

We're just gonna keep the focus on the financial ROI here.

Keeping that in mind, for any particular class

what's gonna happen if you skip it?

Well, you might miss some vital information

that's gonna be really important on a test

or maybe you miss a test altogether

and that's gonna lead to a lower GPA down the line.

You also might form a negative perception

in the mind of your professor if you skip

and they're gonna think you're like some sort of lazy,

entitled millennial

and they're gonna shake their fist at you

and tell you to get off their lawn,

or maybe nothing's gonna happen, who knows?

On the other side of the equation though

you have to ask, "What am I gaining by skipping class?"

Because money isn't the only cost.

There's another cost to your classes and that's your time.

Yeah, you're paying tuition dollars

but you're also using 45 minutes of your precious time

every day that you walk into that classroom.

So what could you gain if you use that time somewhere else?

If you're just feeling lazy

and you really don't wanna go to class

I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that's a good decision

because frankly it's not.

You've already committed resources

and it's a waste of your money and time

to throw away those resources

because you don't feel like it.

You probably know how I feel about not feeling like it.

But, if there's something else that you can do

instead of going to class and it's valuable to you

then that changes the situation significantly.

For example, when I was a senior

I actually skipped about three days of class

to go down to Texas for an event called Finish Up Weekend.

This was basically an event where lots of creative people

came into one space

and they were all working as hard as they possibly could

to finish up a lot of cool projects

and they were helpin' each other out

and I met a lot a cool people during that event,

people who I still talk to today,

and I also learned how to build iPhone apps in one weekend

through a course that somebody pointed me to

and for me, that was way, way more valuable

than a few computer networking classes.

Also, during my freshman year

I skipped a few of my general education classes

that were just not useful to me

and some days I would just schedule extra part-time work,

make a little bit of extra money,

and I would just keep my eye on the syllabus

to make sure I wasn't skipping any important days.

Though, for those of you who are thinking

this is an endorsement of skipping class

and who wanna follow my footsteps,

here are a couple of caveats.

Number one, I will say that after my freshman year

I made it a point to always attend class

and I never skipped class again other than those times

where there was a really important thing to go to

like the Texas trip.

And number two,

I really recommend getting to know your professors,

introducing yourselves to them

at the beginning of the semester, and if you do this

there's a higher likelihood

that your professor's gonna notice if you're gone.

So if you're skipping because you're lazy

or you just wanna sleep in,

you're not gonna make a good impression.

Anyway, those are the facts.

That's all I've really got to say about this

and it really comes down to your own values and priorities

and your own decision if you wanna skip class or not.

It's an opportunity cost decision

and you need to weigh the costs and the benefits.

However, if you're gonna skip class at least do it smart.

Have a friend who can fill you in on any details

or maybe let you copy the notes

and make sure you're staying as up to date

on the out-of-class work as you can

so you're not falling behind.

You also wanna gauge the class to see if what's on the test

is kinda mirrored from the textbook

or if there's a lot of really vital information

you can only get in lectures.

And lastly, make sure you're paying attention

to the syllabus as much as you can

and write down any test dates, quiz dates, or homework dates

in your calendar, I mean, you should be doing this anyway,

but if you're gonna skip it's vitally important,

like doubly so.

Though I will say that it's not foolproof

because I've had times

where the professor's had to change the location

or the time or the date of a test

and they've only told the people

who were in the lecture hall.

So, if you're gonna skip a class

there's inherent risk built into it no matter what you do,

no matter what you do to mitigate that risk

there's gonna be some there.

So, just keep that in mind.

And one last thing, if you're gonna be going to a class

where you have to work on a group project

don't skip, don't be a jerk.

Right there, yeah.

Anyway guys, thank you so much for watching.

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