Why Are Students Not Attending In-Person Classes Post-COVID-19? An Explorative Study in Student Engagement

Abstract

Across UK and global higher education, new trends in student engagement have emerged with in-person attendance having significantly decreased post-COVID-19. There are numerous theories suggesting reasons why a decrease in student attendance has occurred post COVID-19, such as a desire to learn online, the current cost of living crisis, and a further increase in poor mental health. Therefore, this research aims to explore this topic with elected programme-level Student Academic Representatives from three post-92 institutions to contribute to the national debate. The findings cement that the cost-of-living crisis has a significant impact on students’ choices to attend classes. However, the research also demonstrates that teaching quality and content remain at the heart of student decision-making when it comes to attendance and that HEPs therefore have control over developing solutions to this challenge by fore fronting the lived experiences of their students.

Introduction

Following the social distancing measures of the COVID-19 global pandemic, universities worldwide have witnessed changes in student engagement regarding physical attendance with timetabled in-person classes, as well as wider engagement with the campus estate and services such as students’ unions (Kerigan & Foster, 2021). In English Higher Education, there has been clear evidence relating to pressures upon students due to the cost-of-living crisis where employment draws students’ time to support themselves through their studies (Hall & Webster, 2025; Russell Group Students’ Unions, 2023), with some arguing that there is an urgent need to re-think university practice to support student success (Khan, 2021; Neuwirth et al., 2021). Additional to financial matters, the increased accessibility to learning through online support innovated during the global pandemic, has further led to potential changes in student expectations, with catch up digital resources, creating a possible perception that in-person attendance is less necessary following similar student experiences as secondary and further education. As institutions adapt for the long-term “new normal,” short term concerns have emerged relating to student drop out, mental health, student achievement and low senses of belonging, due to less in person engagement.

There is an urgent need to research students’ perspectives on student engagement in regard to attending in-person timetabled sessions in the modern university, where in 2023, a consortium of three former polytechnic colleges which gained university status in 1992 (post-92 universities) came together to address the above conundrum at three institutions located in different cities in England. This paper will share the findings from the literature and qualitative research with over 40 Student Academic Representatives to hear students’ stories derived through focus groups conducted in autumn 2023. This paper contributes to the discussion on preferences in student learning post-COVID-19, to assess and better understand student decision making, barriers to participation and to share recommendations of best practice to support student engagement going forward.

Research Context

This study was conducted in the 2023 English Higher Education sector, being an almost fully marketised sector, where universities charge tuition fees for home students (only capped for undergraduate bachelor’s studies at £9,250/year) and international students (where all pathways have no price cap). Universities and colleges receive the minority of their funding from the state, where since 2015, institutions are able to recruit as many students as they wish, to grow, and sustain their financial model. The sector is dominated by both regulation from bodies such as the Office for Students, setting targets for student outcomes such as retention, attainment and graduate employability, and league tables built on further indicators beyond student outcomes, such as student satisfaction. During the last decade, funding per student head has decreased with state support for widening participation (historically disadvantaged students) moving away from grants to means tested loans, where the replacing student loans often have not kept up with inflation leaving students financially stretched compared to prior decades. Student numbers of participation has still increased in United Kingdom, with 36.4% of 18-year-olds attending Higher Education in 2024 (UK Parliament, 2025), where institutions have gradually prioritised accessibility to study more for an increasingly diverse (and large) student body.

The focus on student satisfaction and accessibility for students who face barriers to study due to personal circumstances, their demographic or neurodiversity, has led institutions to innovate in technology enhanced learning, learning by distance and greater investment in student support (Horlin et al., 2024; Ó Cofaigh & Rodgers, 2025). When the COVID-19 virus led to several national lockdowns in England during the years of 2020 and 2021, almost all Higher Education provision was moved online, to be followed by socially distanced and hybrid (part online, part in person) learning experiences which continued until the end of the 2021 to 2022 academic year. The student experience during the pandemic was mixed at all education levels, with technology enhancements supporting the continuation of learning and some assessment, but apparent trends emerged quickly between providers and individually for students, with themes of not only financial poverty, but space and technology poverty impacting and sometimes preventing engagement in the curriculum across education levels (Hutchings, 2021; Taylor, 2021). Following the innovation of several COVID-19 vaccines across 2021 to 2022, English Higher Education “returned” to prior practices which focussed on in-person education, yet in the academic year 2022 to 2023, it was clear from the participating universities and literature below, that engagement patterns at in-person timetabled sessions expected from pre-pandemic levels were changing leading to the convening of the research group for this study.

Literature

Student engagement is described to represent both the time and energy students invest in educationally purposeful activities and the effort institutions devote to using effective educational practices (Kuh, 2001), where it has been evidenced that by investing in supporting and developing student engagement can benefit student outcomes (Schnitzler et al., 2021; Snijders et al., 2020; Thomas & Allen, 2022). However, the definition, or which type of “student engagement” to focus upon varies, where the term has many meanings and is interpreted in multiple ways (Bryson, 2014; Dunne, 2016). Student engagement can relate to emotions, learning, voice and feedback (in educational developments), and behaviour (Lowe, 2023; Trowler, 2010), where assessing whether students are engaged across these areas of activity largely falls on behavioural – through physical measures like attendance in class, or digital measures of clicks, viewings, and downloads on Virtual Learning Environments. With perhaps a focus on attendance in class dominant in society, following traditional cultural models of emphasising in-person education across early years to higher education, faculty and administrators both become worried when attendance decreases, to be perhaps perceived as an indicator of overall student engagement decreasing, and therefore a greater risk of student drop out or decrease in student outcomes.

During the pre-vaccination socially distant period of the global pandemic, students would often not attend on campus activities due to explicit rules placed on their attendance, such as timetabled access to many universities or online only education, and isolation rules for those who had been exposed to the virus. Following the easing of lockdowns and return to in-person study, 76% of staff have seen lower numbers of students turning up to lectures despite COVID-19 restrictions being lifted globally (Williams, 2022). During the end to social distancing, students reported increases in social isolation and loneliness during the pandemic (Jackson & Blake, 2022), and poorer mental health (HEPI and AdvanceHE, 2022). A study of 640 university students highlights social integration and academic integration decreased significantly during the lockdown period in the beginning of 2020 (Resch et al., 2023), and a return of focus to students having a sense of belonging came out in the literature to address this (Brignell et al., 2022; Bruce et al., 2023).

In addition to the pandemic, global economic and financial disruption during and in the years following the easing of restrictions particularly affected England, where the economic impact of social distancing, global conflict and political disruption led to high inflation in the UK seeing inflation peak at 11.1% in October 2022. The so-called “Cost of Living Crisis” impacted students in England where their maintenance loans would not increase in line with inflation (only 2.8% in 2023–2024; Department for Education, 2023), seeing over half (54%) of students reporting their academic performance had suffered because of the crisis and 18% considering dropping out due to financial reasons in a survey of over 8,800 students (Russell Group Students’ Unions, 2023). Research by HEPI (2024) and the Centre for Research in Social Policy estimated that students need £18,632 a year outside London and £21,774 a year in London to meet a Minimum Income Standard.

Further studies highlighted students turning to part-time work with 49% of undergraduate students responding to have missed a lecture, seminar, or workshop to do paid work (Johnson, 2023), and an Office for Students’ (2023) study highlighting one in five students reported that they had considered dropping out of university because of cost-of-living increases. Due to financial pressures, the University of Central Lancaster (UK) evidenced an increase in the average hours work per week alongside full-time study from 13.5 to 23 hr (Wright et al., 2024).

The debate has therefore followed, where a survey conducted by Dickinson (2023), outlined the below reasons why students are now attending less post pandemic. Interestingly, although the above external factors to the university such as the cost-of-living crisis are cited, the majority of the reasons relate to course related factors, such as timetabling, lecture/r quality, and perceived relevance (Dickinson, 2023). Wider literature is debating the balance between online and in-person activities, where Richards (2023) highlights the need to focus on active learning to increase the value of in-person sessions, managing students’ expectations and a focus on perceived relevance for students. In addition, commentators have noted that learning community and students’ sense of belonging should be a priority (Jackson & Blake, 2022) with an argument for relational pedagogies (Gravett et al., 2024). Universities as a whole are strategically adapting, with institutions adopting pedagogic and timetabling approaches to address new engagement models, such as so-called “block teaching” supporting students to attend campus on less days per week or weeks per semester (to support part-time employment; Konjarski et al., 2023; Merry, 2024), flipped learning models using new technologies (Fitzgerald et al., 2022), student support packages including cheap/free meals on campus and student support bursaries (University of Huddersfield, 2025; University of Westminster, 2025). The debate regarding student engagement and presenteeism on campuses is very much in its infancy, where the research consortium for this study aspire to add further students’ stories to the discussion on engagement preferences towards in-person contact time in English Higher Education.

• Illness/Health issues (both physical and mental – e.g. feeling ill, migraine, mental health, and depression)

• Other course demands (e.g. busy with coursework, revision, focussing on assignments, deadlines, and timetable clashes)

• Convenience/Online availability (e.g. online easier, classes accessible online, and watching recordings)

• Personal circumstances (e.g. family issues, relocation, finances, childcare, and bereavement)

• Lack of motivation/Interest (e.g. no interest, lack of passion, and dissatisfaction with course)

• Course-related issues (e.g. lecture quality, relevance to assessments, and poor teaching)

• Travel/Commuting (e.g. distance, train strikes, weather, and expense)

• Anxiety/Stress (e.g. nervousness in seminars, social anxiety, and stress from workload)

• External commitments (e.g. work, meetings, and personal appointments)

• Timetabling (e.g. early morning classes and back-to-back classes)

• (Dickinson, 2023)

Participating Institutions

The three universities taking part in this study represent similar providers, where all are former Polytechnique providers with a history of vocational education. Each provider awards degrees at undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research programmes of study, across a wide breadth of disciplines from the humanities and arts to sciences and business studies. The providers are all in metropolitan locations within cities with a focus on undergraduate, in-person education provision where the majority of students are of traditional age, commencing their studies in their late teenage years. Each has a clear commitment to widening participation educating over one third widening participation students and hold similar grade entry requirements. Despite this, each of the university locations is of course individual, with different campus estate, structures of university services and course organisation beyond a focus on full-time in person education. The three institutions together offer a breadth of students’ experiences for wider sector consideration.

Method

The chosen method for this study was focus groups, to draw out rich qualitive data through discussion with students (see Supplemental Appendix 1 for questions). As highlighted above, the current literature and sector reports largely relate to survey and often positivist data from Likert scales and category response questions. As there is less research in the literature relating to students’ stories, and with many of the co-researchers’ background being in supporting student voice and students as partners research, an interpretivist study was chosen to contribute student perspectives to current discourse. Analysis was thematic and conducted through Braun and Clarke’s (2012) recommended steps: including familiarisation with data, generation of initial codes, search for themes, review themes, definition of themes, and writing. Prior to the study, ethical approval was successfully sought at each of the three providers, in line with each institution’s research and ethics policies. The questions asked and discussed in this paper are featured in Supplemental Appendix 1.

Participants

As outlined above, this study engaged 40 student voice leaders, who were each in a position of responsibility, often referred to as Student Academic Representatives, which are common roles at universities to support student voice and feedback practices at a course level (Bols, 2017). The roles differ slightly at each institution due to local practice, with some being paid, rewarded through bursaries, or purely voluntary. For their participation in the focus group, each participant was given a small financial recognition of approx. £20. It was recognised by the research consortium that during a cost-of-living crisis for students asking students to participate in the study for free would create barriers to participation and be contrary to the literature that has already evidenced financial challenges for students.

Findings

Perceived Reasons Why Attendance Has Decreased? (Q1)

The dominant theme for this question related to accessibility of online content post COVID-19, where there were 25 references cited that this enabled greater flexibility with learning. One student stated;

students just feel that OK since I have all my modules accessible online, there’s really no point coming in [. . .] It’s actually a personalised kind of thing. So for me I just think that students know what works best for them so they are able to choose that which appeals to them.

This was reenforced by others who noted “the use of Teams and all other types of webinars and all of that [. . .] it’s easier and you can you sort of be in your own environment, feel comfortable, be quiet, no distractions, you know, so it can be a good thing.” Accessibility was particularly important to those with diverse support learning needs, one student stated “I don’t want to go because I have to face people. I don’t want to be in a room around people, mental health issues and others have. And in my experience, I’ve been recently diagnosed with ADHD and ASD.”

A second dominant theme was linked to commuting with 11 references made to commuting to campus “it’s quite a big commitment to just drive in for like an hour or two hour lecture [. . .] if they have a commitment like a job or anything like that, it’s a waste of time to come in for one lecture whereas some days like today we’re in all day. So it’s more beneficial.” Commuting can also be linked in with another dominant theme of cost of living where there were seven references, “the amount of money these people spend commuting down from different locations down here would be unnecessary if the classes are online.”

The quality of the teaching, particularly lectures, impacted attendance with nine references cited in the research, “. . .just sometimes the lectures feel like they could have been an email or a short paragraph” and;

if when you go to a lecture, I think a lot of people seem to think it’s like you’re just going to a lecture to have the teacher read off of a PowerPoint for you. So I think a lot of students are like as well, they’re probably just like ‘ohh, if I’ve got access to this, I’ve got the PowerPoint online and I’ve got the recording, there’s the time as well’. Then like what’s the point if I can just do at home kind of thing.

Another student referenced that they’d “rather watch, you know, watch a TV show whilst watching a lecture, then just listen to the lecture. I mean I still go in but you know, I feel like for some people it’s not as exciting as doing it from home and you can eat whilst you’re watching a lecture. So I just think Covid kind of changed how people perceive Uni.”

Conflicting Priorities (Q2)

The theme of students prioritising paid work was cited most frequently in this question, with 14 references indicating it as a priority over attending classes, often due to an increase in overall living costs. The cost of living was mentioned 12 times, with one student remarking;

this year my rent has gone up and my loan has gone down because I’m in my third year, so this year I’m missing a significant amount of money for rent. So, working is a necessity. I have to work over the weekends, and if I can pick up a midweek shift, then I would absolutely not turn that down if I could.

The joint influence of the cost of living and increased working demands was reiterated by another student who noted the challenge of balancing work responsibilities with study: “I think people miss university for work and jobs specifically, you know, like the cost-of-living crisis and everything. People have to work to actually afford university and accommodation, and obviously, they need the money to be able to go to university. If they can’t afford to go to university, then there’s no point in attending the lectures in the first place.”

The value of extracurricular opportunities remains important to many students and was the joint most dominant theme for this question, appearing 14 times. One student shared, “mental health has become a very important part of people’s lives because they realise the impact it can have on them. But I also think that a lot of people don’t attend and just engage in fun activities, such as socialising, going to parties, and other non-academic activities.” Students discussed beyond curricula decisions choosing between fun and studying was also noted, for example, “If I went out late at night, I might not be able to make it to my 9 am lecture the next day because I don’t feel well.” Another student remarked, “If there’s training or a game that day, they’re probably going to that rather than going to class, especially if it’s a class that they don’t feel like they need to attend.”

The Influence of Online Resources (Q3)

Accessibility and convenience were the dominant themes referenced by students in this question with 24 and 15 references respectively. One participant noted that online resources;

offer flexibility and comfort to students. I mean, I think some people definitely see it as like a catalyst for laziness, which it’s definitely fair. But you know, for people who actually want to work and actually want to study, it’s such a powerful tool in enabling them to really go over the content again and allow them to dive deeper into the same information that they were there for in person and really like, maximise most out of it.

Others discussed the comfort of working from home and the ability to study when convenient based on other commitments “Even if we’re ill or something else is happening, we can always catch up. So that’s really great that that has improved since Covid. [. . .] But I think a lot of students just now feel more comfortable to just work from home.”

Attending Some Classes But Not Others (Q4)

The dominant theme in this question related to differences between sessions, where 15 references were made to generally favoured practical and interactive sessions for in-person attendance, and 10 references to preferring sessions that were on topics relevant to the assessment they were due to undertake. For example “attendance in my seminars is a lot higher than what it is in the lectures [. . .] So I feel like it’s probably more beneficial for some people than the lecture where you just get spoken at.” Building on this topic a student noted;

I think seminars and like [active collaborative learning] are the most important to attend because they’re smaller groups where you actually interact with your peers and like your tutor or whatever in-person. And you can gain actual like one-on-one from your tutorials and lectures. You might have like a question, but you’ll get like a kind of shorter answer to fit with the lecture time. Whereas if you have questions one-on-one in a smaller class, you can actually like go into depth.

The quality of lectures was also cited as a factor in deciding whether to attend. Five participants referenced the perception of learning gain in sessions being important where one participant reported that “I think some lectures are just poor. Like I know some people who go to class, they leave, and they are like ‘I haven’t learnt anything in that lecture, so I am not going to go again.’” In addition, 10 participants referenced a decision factor being if there was a perception that the session’s learning would link to or benefit an upcoming assessment as already highlighted.

Benefits to Studying Flexibly/Online (Q3 and Q4)

The most common theme cited by students for this question was the desire for greater flexibility and overall personal choice (15 references), with students expressing a preference for the ability to tailor their studies to suit their individual needs. For example, one student reported

it’s really important to have both options because my course is really expensive. Getting all the fabrics and materials costs a lot, and most people have to work a job alongside it. So being able to balance it and miss a lecture, and still do it on another day without missing out, is really important.

Another student highlighted the benefit of a flexible approach to learning regarding their overall experience: “Yes, so I think it’s just way easier if the studies are flexible. You can fit your whole day around it, including sports, work, deciding when to eat, and when to get up, and all of that.”

Mixed perceptions based on students’ motivation was discussed, with one student remarking on the challenge some students face in managing the freedom that comes with increased flexibility:

gaining that flexibility and being able to study from home versus being on campus is really dependent on the person. If you’re studious and you care, it’s a massive advantage. But if you’re not studious and don’t care about taking advantage of the resources and learning, it feels like an excuse to procrastinate.

This sentiment was supported by another student who highlighted the challenges faced by those with difficult home environments: “homes are full of distractions. You might just look at your phone for 20 minutes or chat with someone. There are certain things that can distract you, but it all depends on what you do.”

The way in which flexible studying can support diverse learning styles was the second most dominant theme with 13 references. One student highlighted the benefit it has for deepening knowledge: “I think the benefits are there’s not as much pressure to retain everything that’s being said to you. You can do things within your own time. If you’re covering some piece of content, you have the time to look up what a word means and then carry on. Whereas in a lecture, you’re just being spoken to continuously. Personally, I’d still be back there thinking I don’t know what that meant, and I’d get stuck. By that point, you’re lost.” Another student mentioned the benefit of session playback in the case of poor delivery style: “With recorded lectures, you can go back to re-watch something you missed. But in person, if the lecturer keeps talking without breaks, my friends didn’t grasp a lot of what was being said.” Finally, nine students referenced the benefit of reduced travel as a result of flexible study, where one student remarked, “my course gives flexibility and saves money on travelling and commuting.”

Impact of The Cost-of-Living Crisis (Q5)

The key themes emerging from this question mirror those from previous questions relating to the increased prioritisation of paid work over study with 22 references. Students highlighted the priority of work alongside studies, with students reporting having “to work more in order to be able to live. So that means that my attendance was lower.” And “if there’s an opportunity to earn money or attend a lecture where the content is available to you. It’s yeah, you’re more likely to go to work.” A frequent action to save money was not attending in person to reduce commuting costs with 16 references. “For me it would probably be actually affording like petrol or bus fares to actually get to campus. Like for one lecture, say like it’s just not worth it really. Because you could be working that hour instead and earning the money that you’re gonna spend on that. So I know that from some of my friends that is a reason. Sometimes it’s just not worth it.” There were only two themes in the answers to this question, being increasing prioritisation of work outside of studies, and cost of commuting to campus, unsurprising following the sector studies highlighted in the literature review.

Limitations

This study shares qualitative data on current student engagement preferences in regard to attendance at time-tabled sessions post-COVID-19. The limitations of this study relate to first the participating institutions, where the findings perhaps have value in transferability to other institutions, but do not represent the diversity of the English Higher Education sector as a whole. The participants were Student Voice Leaders, who were highly engaged in feedback activities and whilst they shared their reflections on the experience of their peers, they are not representative of their wider cohorts. These students also answered a Call for Participation to speak on student attendance post COVID-19, where their motivations could have biased their responses, as well as being interviewed by staff in potentially perceived positions of power (university and students’ union managers) which could have impacted students’ responses to be influenced by positive acquiescence – either to draw on high impact stories to please the researchers or represent perceived ideal engagement preferences of themselves.

Discussion

This study aimed to add qualitative data from students to the post-COVID-19 conundrum surrounding student engagement in the form of attendance at time-tabled sessions. The sector literature had drawn on several themes, where the findings of this study largely align. A clear prominent barrier to engagement is student finances, placing limitations on students’ ability to attend classes either due to low finances for commuting costs or students prioritising paid work instead to pay for rent, food, transport, and other essentials (Hall & Webster, 2025; Russell Group Students’ Unions, 2023). Whilst financial challenges persist for English Higher Education students, universities should recognise that this will prevent engagement at timetabled sessions, and therefore attempts to compress the number of days students need to attend campus, setting timetables well in advance and introducing financial support packages to access study hold merit.

Beyond financial pressures, the course, its content, and teaching were prominent in these research findings, where the individual lecture is a factor in decision making. Students reported consistently across the three providers that session format and focus impacted decisions to attend, where if the session held perceived learning benefit, or overtly related to an upcoming assessment, influenced students to attend. Prior class attendance experience also influenced decision making, where students reported poor teaching experiences where they did not necessarily learn as much as expected, did not engage with the teaching style and even thought they could have gained the same learning from looking through the slides independently. Therefore, it is important that course teams interrogate teaching, course design, and session content as part of the engagement discussion, where achieving student perceived relevance is likely critical to achieving high attendance.

Convenience of engaging or catching up with online resources was both praised and reported as a major factor that influenced attendance as present in the literature (Horlin et al., 2024; Ó Cofaigh & Rodgers, 2025). Students reported benefits of engaging within their timeframe, enabling them to prioritise other activities and catch up on content if they were unwell, or for revision purposes. The benefit to students with barriers to learning was clear, yet it is also clear from the findings that the knowledge that the same intellectual content is available online clearly is giving students an expectation that in-person attendance is optional. It is important to continuously revisit and review the role of catch up and online learning materials as their role is clearly prominent in impacting student decision making regarding attendance.

Finally, several post COVID-19 studies have highlighted a priority of focussing on student belonging and community as one way to improve student engagement on campus (Ahn et al., 2025; Bruce et al., 2023; Jackson & Blake, 2022). Although there is a clear reference in the quote below from a single participant, there were no other references in the research study to a lack of community or belonging on the courses impacting decisions not to attend in-person timetabled sessions. This is perhaps as the topic was not directly featured in any of the focus group questions.

From what I can tell, I think, like the whole morale just went down like, you know, there’s no excitement in union anymore like the whole like, I don’t know, experience. It’s just not there anymore. . .It’s so dead like the whole [campus] is like dead [. . .] The whole experience is just dull and things like that [. . .] Everything’s online. It’s accessible. So you know, we don’t feel like we don’t feel the pressure to like the need to go to lectures. to gain knowledge and stuff like that. We could always just look back on our [VLE] and things like that, and have like recorded lectures.

Conclusion

This study highlights that student engagement with attendance at in-person timetabled sessions faces considerable challenges, due to both internal factors under university or college influence, and external factors mainly financial, which institutions have less control over. Many students balance competing priorities when choosing to attend in-person or not. It is crucial that universities assess their own curriculum planning, learning, and teaching and students’ engagement. It is likely that the course content itself is influencing student engagement as evidenced in this study.

It is clear that moves towards online support materials is influencing engagement decisions, to address this, institutions should continuously review their online vs in-person balance if they wish to prioritise traditional models of presenteeism. Additionally, many students are facing acute external financial pressures forcing them to deprioritise attendance, universities and colleges should consider how they might reduce additional costs and invest or lobby for greater financial support for students.

Finally, the researchers of this study endorse individual institutions exploring the topic with their own students, to hear student stories in their context, particularly where attendance is perceived to be an issue. Only through engaging with the current students’ lived experiences of higher education will institutions gain a greater understanding of student engagement preferences within their institutions post-COVID-19, where local contextual qualitative data could offer local solutions.

Supplemental Material

sj-docx-1-alh-10.1177_14697874251366213 – Supplemental material for Why Are Students Not Attending In-Person Classes Post-COVID-19? An Explorative Study in Student Engagement

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-alh-10.1177_14697874251366213 for Why Are Students Not Attending In-Person Classes Post-COVID-19? An Explorative Study in Student Engagement by Tom Lowe, Conor Naughton, Tania Struetzel, Rebecca Adams, Jessica Walker, Philip Kynaston and Colum Mackey in Active Learning in Higher Education