It would be nice to be able to programmatically access columns. However (for any reader who will find it helpful) in most cases it really is much better to change the schema. Compare and contrast the “matrix” schema of attendance to the “database record” schema below.
You can replicate the display of the first schema by grouping the second schema, and the second schema is much more powerful when it comes to access by formula and even moreso when you start doing graphs and visualizations.