Jaylen Hill’s Story
Jaylen Hill came to the University of North Carolina at Asheville expecting a similar experience to high school. He, like many other college freshmen, was wrong.
Hill came to UNCA with a number of his peers from Chapel Hill. He was involved with his high school’s theatre program and came to Asheville for its artsy reputation.
He studies mass communication and considers coming to college a big accomplishment, he said.
“The thing that really makes me want to strive is the teacher,” Hill said.
Hill never had a favorite subject going through high school. For him, the most important part of class has always been the teachers. He values the connection with his teachers more than anything and does his best to impress them, he said.
He enjoyed his time in high school and still visits his favorite history teacher from time to time.
Adjusting to college level expectations proved to be a challenge for Hill, an experience not unusual for a college freshman.
Something came up. Hill skipped a class. Then another. Then even more.
“It’s addictive as hell, skipping, it’s bad,” Hill said. “The more you skip, the worse it gets. Not only that, but the worse it feels. I felt like shit.”
According to Hill, he couldn’t just go back. He said he felt ashamed. The professors might call him out in class like he had witnessed happen to some of his friends.
Hill’s experience is not unique. For one reason or another, a number of students find themselves skipping class and feeling shame for it.
University Absenteeism
UNCA experienced an unusually high rate of absences during the fall semester according to university officials.
“Right now we’re finding there’s a lot of students who have not been going to class,” said Melanie Fox, dean of students. “They’re saying, ‘I want to recover my semester and I haven’t been going to class for a few weeks.’ That’s going to be a hard thing to do.”
Students choose to skip class for many reasons, and often for more than one reason. For many students, those reasons are deeply personal. Frequent absence and lack of engagement can make students more likely to leave, creating a concerning issue, according to university officials.
“When students don’t go to class, you go back to motivation,” said Jay Cutspec, assistant vice chancellor of health and wellness at the Health and Counseling Center.
Cutspec lives in Asheville, where he has been for over 20 years.
When students find themselves without motivation, it often becomes Cutspec’s job to find out why.
There are several reasons for students missing class, he said.
“I think they feel like their parents wanted them here, they’re not interested in college, so they’re really not motivated to be here,” he said.
According to Cutspec, a large portion of the student body at UNCA suffers from mental health issues, such as anxiety or depression, making attendance harder.
More than 50 percent of the students have been in counseling before their arrival on campus, he said.
According to Cutspec, students frequently feel anxious or depressed during semesters, which provide many stresses. This rings especially true for new students who have to cope with many changes.
“It’s a new place, a new room, a new roommate, new food and everything changes,” Cutspec said.
Another reason students could be lacking in motivation may relate to substance use.
Some students may get into a pattern where they enjoy substances more than going to class, Cutspec said.
According to Cutspec, some students find the workload shift after graduating high school challenging. High school doesn’t always push students enough and they don’t learn good study habits, he said.
“They come here and they can’t just skate, right? They’ve got to actually put in effort, and I think that can be overwhelming,” Cutspec said.
Class attendance provides a great deal of the content for a course, but making it to every class is difficult, creating the need for an absence policy. This policy helps to accommodate students, but has potential to send the wrong message.
“I think students almost perceive absences as their right,” Cutspec said. Absences are provided to students in case of emergency, not for unnecessary reasons, he said.
Students often find themselves independent for the first time in college. Students must adjust to this and attendance policies help students view going to class on their own as important, Fox said.
Fox spent most of her 33 years working at the university within the housing department before becoming dean of students almost three years ago.
Solving the problem
According to Cutspec, struggling students should get to know their professors. All of them do their best to help with success.
“That doesn’t mean you have to go up to them every day after class or have lunch with them, but just make face-to-face contact and communicate with them,” Cutspec said, referring to the faculty.
The professors want students to be successful, but students must work with them, Cutspec said.
While the student makes their own choice whether to attend, it falls on the professor to create an engaging class, Cutspec said.
According to Laura Meadows, an associate professor of the department of mass communication, clear policy becomes key.
Meadows makes it clear what she expects from her students, but she also tries to make students want to come to class. She uses in class assignments and discussions to relate her class to contemporary events.
Everybody is in a different place as a student and a human being, said Peter Kusek, an assistant professor in new media. Things always come up, but missing class lowers the value for everyone involved, he said.
Participating in class adds value for everyone present and when students choose not to attend, perspectives become lost, Kusek said.
Kusek aims to provide a fun class environment where every perspective has value and everyone learns something new, even himself.
Students in need of extra help can make an appointment at the Health and Counseling Center on 118 W.T. Weaver Blvd. The center provides medical, mental health and psychiatric aid to maximize academic success. Most services are offered for free or at a small fee.
The university offers a hardship withdrawal option for students suffering from significant issues allowing them to withdraw without penalty if they meet the required criteria.
Back to Hill
Hill comes from a high school that adopted a school board 50 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Assignments could not receive a grade lower than 50 percent, even if they were not turned in, he said.
Additionally, choosing not to attend class had no real consequence during his senior year, Hill said.
Still, Hill does not deny accountability for his own actions.
“At the end of the day, I’m the one making the conscious decision to skip. It’s my fault,” Hill said.
According to Hill, skipping class is a dumb choice and it makes things difficult, but the headache of having to get notes, contacting the teacher and making up assignments already serves as a punishment, he said.
“Do you really need 10 points off your grade on top of that? I don’t think so,” Hill said.
According to Hill, the attendance policy should be more lenient. The world changes, and you don’t need to be in class every day to be a good student anymore, he said.
Choosing not to attend a class he paid for should not result in losing points, he said.
“I bought my Xbox, no one is going to be like, I don’t think you’ve played that enough,” he said.
Hill does not want classes to be easier, but he wishes they could be more convenient for students, he said.
“It doesn’t feel like students have a voice on campus,” Hill said.
Hill likes to participate in course evaluations, but wants more attempts to hear what students think, he said.
No other students could be reached to talk about their experience regarding class participation. Some cited personal details or fear of getting in trouble.
Hill’s desired career after graduation remains undecided for now, but he likes the idea of pursuing a degree that opens a wide career field.
For now, Hill’s next step is to get back on track. He does not take skipping lightly and does not want his teachers to think he does not take his work seriously.
“I don’t like skipping,” Hill said. “I don’t want to be known as a skipper or a quitter or a drop out.”
