How much is it costing you to skip class?

Hint: skipping class for a semester will cost you as much as 1300 cans of beer

Across Rutgers, life is pretty uniform – young men and women reaching for a college degree that lies just on the surface of the debt they’re swimming in. And hey, we deserve recognition for all of the corners we have to cut to make ends meet.

But let’s be honest, those extra dollars you spend on jeans and Chipotle this month are no match for the dollars you lose when you skip class on the regular.

Let’s take a moment to understand the “credit hour.” A credit hour is the way that a college breaks down the cost of each class you’re enrolled in. Some classes are worth one credit while some are worth three or four.

Because of this, some of your classes will end up costing you more than others. Colleges have a fixed rate on a per-credit basis. This is the “cost per credit hour.”

So how much is each class costing you?

Are you from Jersey? Are you living on campus? Then you’re paying around $26,538 a year to be here – that’s $11,217 in tuition, $2,914 in fees and roughly $12,054 in room and board. For the sake of our per-credit argument, we’ll use the figure that exists for part-time students, and that’s $361 per credit hour for part-time students.

And if you’re from out of state, then you’re paying around $41,575 annually. Part-time per-credit is $863.

If you want to find out how much it’s costing you to fall asleep in Orgo this semester, you can. And here’s the formula.

Cost per credit hour x credits in the course = price paid for class

How many times does your class meet during the semester? Divide by this number.

A three credit course that meets twice a week over the 15 weeks in a semester – that’s roughly 30 classes – will cost about $1,083 per semester for New Jersey residents.

Divide that number by 30 classes and that’s around $36.10 down the drain per class you skip.

And for out of state students, the cost of each class is around $2,589. That’s worth $86.30 for every class skipped.

$36.10 is about 180 packs of ramen, 10 bags of 16 oz. bags of Cool Ranch Doritos, and multiple trips to Chipotle. For a student from out of state, that would be 431 packs of ramen and 24 bags of Doritos.

And for the bros who are too cool for school – you know who you are, Mr. “D’s get degrees” – skipping an entire semester of one three credit class is worth a whopping 1,300 cans of Budweiser. That’s 3,045 for everyone paying out of state tuition.

Let’s face it, most of us are guilty of skipping a class here or there. And sometimes there is a legitimate excuse to do so.

In our quest to save a few dollars we cut so many corners. But no sacrifice we make in our daily spending can match the value of the thing we just don’t want to do every day: go to class.

While it’s important to find all the ways you can save a buck, it only makes sense to take advantage of the education you’re already paying for. Because damn, you’re paying a lot to be here.

Maybe missing one or two classes won’t kill you. Just don’t forget how much it will cost you. And while you’re throwing back that Traveler’s Club and store-brand soda mix on Thirsty Thursday, keep in mind that $36.10 it could cost you to miss class Friday morning.

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