Students often find the oddest and wildest excuses about why they are habitually late to class or for turning assignments in late.

When professors question students about their tardiness, students find ways to make their professors feel guilty for them in this day in age, it does not work. However, that does not hinder students from repeatedly trying.

Some professors may fall victim to their excuses and feel guilty. They get so absorbed in the excuses because students talk them into considering them valid reasons.

Students are unaware that their tardiness affects others intellectually and socially. Students who enter class late can disrupt the professor as they are engaging in a lecture. They can also miss important information that the professor is trying to convey at the beginning of class. Not only does the person who arrived late miss material, but so do other students in the class. The late student distracts others as they try to walk down the row of chairs, unzip their school bag and get everything they need to prepare for class. What if this becomes a chronic situation? Professors then have to decide which methods are effective for treating the problem.

Professors have to remind students that their lateness affects others and is also a sign of disrespect. This may be enough confirmation to stop the problem.

The beginning of class is where the professor tends to share information and presents the agenda for the day or the week. Students cannot gain this information if they are walking into class late. For instance, if someone misses the beginning of a movie, they are lost for the rest of the film.
Being tardy to class has consequences. Nipping the late behavior in the bud determines if it will happen again. Professors who penalize lateness inconsistently are more likely to have students who do it more often. This is where their policy, which is sometimes located in the syllabus, fails. Some professors have a policy where two late arrivals count as once absence.

“I have had one student miss a debate because he had to bring his pregnant girlfriend to get an abortion,” Assistant Speech Professor Rya Butterfield said.

While most college students are mature for their age, there are still students coping with the independence they have in college. They may fail to do the little things that require responsibility.

Most students who turn in late assignments often forget it was due on a particular day, had internet problems or were stuck in traffic traveling to school. More often than not, they use the excuse that they blatantly forgot.

Ultimately, students should communicate with their professors to avoid the consequences that come along with being tardy to class or turning assignments in late.