"to be in and out of college"

[sweetestel]

Hi,
I'm French and I'm working on a text for my english class in which there's a phrase I can't manage to translate. I think I get the meaning but I'd like to be sure. I can't find it in my dictionnary, nor on the Internet.

It says : "Sam, the son of a high school principal in a small city, was in and out of college"
Does it mean that Sam skips

Comments

[finding_jay]

I don't speak French, so I can't help on the translation, but I'd read that sentence to mean that Sam is always dropping out of college and then coming back and starting the same/another degree. Does that make sense? (Also, this is just my reading of it- it may not be the correct answer)

[buzzboomsplat]

that's how i would think of it too.

[sweetestel]

Thanks for your help!

[samtaro82]

I would agree with that reading of the sentence. Unfortunately, I can't help with the translation either, though. :(

[risskabob]

Another possible meaning, heavily dependent on context, is that Sam went through college very very quickly.

Another example with this meaning:

"I just need to go in and out of the store." --it means I'm not going to browse, I'm just going to run in and then run out again.

The meanings the others have pointed out seems far more likely, but I just wanted to point out this potential meaning too.

[sweetestel]

Yes, I found this meaning on the Internet too! But in this case it doesn't seem that things are this easy Sam, so it's probably the other meaning!
Thank you for your comment! :)

[joho07]

This is what I thought of at first, too.

[fenoxielo524]

Like others have said, it's implying that he's dropping out and then re-enrolling multiple times, not that he's just skipping classes.

[sweetestel]

Thanks!

[franzeska]

For what it's worth, this is a very common expression. I hear it most about illness: "She has been in and out of the hospital for months." It's also used for employment problems: "He was in and out of work all of last year." I don't usually hear it about high school. If he kept getting kicked out for bad behavior, I might say something like: "He was in and out of every boarding school on the East Coast." If he was sick or something, I'd say: "He was in and out of school for most of ninth and tenth grade before he was finally diagnosed." I probably wouldn't just use the term "high school" with that construction.