DeKALB – Since COVID-19, NIU students have experienced a pandemic-hangover. Its cure doesn’t involve greasy cheeseburgers, but rather a need for attendance in classes.

Students may have also noticed messages from the NIU app or posters around campus reminding them to attend class, a message might say “When you miss class, you miss out.” These messages are part of NIU’s push for students to attend classes.

“The tests become a lot harder and I probably should go to class more because I always regret missing it,” said Kylie Thiel, a first-year political science major.

Students miss classes for many reasons including illness, mental health or maybe they just skipped.

“Either it’s three things: I either need to sleep from staying up too late doing homework, catching up on homework or mental health problems,” said Jess Huerta, a junior health science major. “I’d say that’s the three top reasons why I miss class for sure.”

Students like Alan Sanchez, a first-year health science major, said he recognizes being in class provides opportunities you can’t get back if you don’t attend.

“You don’t get that one-on-one with the professor or the TA, you miss out on understanding the topic,” Sanchez said.

Nicole Holland, the director of advising for the College of Health and Human Sciences, said the effect of the pandemic is still lasting in students’ educational ideals.

“COVID anxiety, and also students wanting to have more flexibility,” Holland said. “Because they’re used to it – a lot of times, we’ll hear students saying, ‘I want my classes to be online,’ and the classes that they need are only available face-to-face now, and so it becomes a challenge for them.”

Omar Ghrayeb, senior vice provost for Academic Affairs at NIU, is part of the campaign pushing for students to not miss classes.

“Last semester, we noticed coming out of COVID and going back to face-to-face classes: At the end of the semester, there were students who did not do well,” Ghrayeb said. “When we looked at the relationship between those students who did not do well and their attendance, there was a strong correlation. That’s why we started these campaigns to encourage students to attend their classes.”

While the Northern Star has not been able to access student attendance data, Ghrayeb said things are looking better.

“Actually attendance this semester is much better than last semester,” Ghrayeb said. “So there is a huge improvement.”

Ghrayeb said the issue of the decline in attendance is not just an NIU problem, it is a national issue.

“It is uniformly distributed. It is not unique to NIU,” Ghrayeb said. “Other schools in the state have the same issue as well.”

Ghrayeb said the problem with missing classes usually results not only in worse grades but will also begin to affect other aspects of a student’s life on campus.

“Now their GPA is suffering; and as a result of that, they might lose their financial aid,” Ghrayeb said. “There’s a domino effect. If the student is not attending because the student is struggling with the class, we might refer them to tutoring and supplemental instruction.”

NIU is looking to fix the issue through numerous resources, one of those being Navigate.

“Navigate as a platform connects faculty members and instructors, and the staff members who are responsible for student success in terms of advisers and central units,” Ghrayeb said. “Whenever a faculty member notes that a student is not attending, we’ll send a notification to see what the reason is the student is not attending.”

Training for faculty members has also been noted as a key tool in helping students stay in class.

“They are getting trained to make the classes more interactive, and more interesting to attend,” Ghrayeb said. Ghrayeb said in order to maintain grades, students should not miss more than three classes in a semester.

“I say three classes, because life happens,” Ghrayeb said. “You might need to miss classes here and there.”

Steve Estes, the director of academic advising for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said advisers can make a difference in students’ attendance by planning out good schedules and plans for students.

“I explore those interests and goals with them and try to get them fired up about those,” Estes said.

Estes encourages students to consider the value of professors at NIU.

“You’re getting an opportunity a few times a week to share that wisdom and experience and knowledge,” Estes said. “I mean, who wouldn’t want to do that?”

Students who need support for classes or any other assistance can visit the Center for Student Assistance at the Peters Campus Life Building, Room 150.