Anyone familiar with this field of java?

There are a few errors, one is that I need the variable "inputs" to be recognized outside of the for loop, it is because it was created inside the for loop, I was wondering if there was a way to go around that or a different approach I could try. Also, there is a minor issue with the char variables at the end. They do not like to be in if statements and be treated like Strings. How do you use char's in if statements like the way I need to?

package javaapplication63;

import javax.swing.JComponent;

import javax.swing.JLabel;

import javax.swing.JOptionPane;

import javax.swing.JTextField;

public class JavaApplication63 {

public static void main(String[] args) {

int numStudents = Integer.parseInt(JOptionPane.showInputDialog

(null, "Create your class, How many people are in your class?"));

//lets you chose how big your array is or your "class(like in school)"

String[] students = new String[numStudents];

//creates array that the students in the class will be in

for(int i = 0; i < numStudents; i++){

students[i] = JOptionPane.showInputDialog

("Now enter the names of your students. "

+ "Student #" + (i + 1) + ":");

}

//lets you input the names of the students in the class

JTextField[] nameBox = new JTextField[numStudents];

for(int i = 0; i < numStudents; i++){

nameBox[i] = new JTextField();

final JComponent[] inputs = new JComponent[] {

new JLabel(students[i]),

nameBox[i],

};

}

JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, inputs, "A-Absent, T-Tardy, "

+ "E-Excused, nothing-on time", JOptionPane.PLAIN_MESSAGE);

//creates a pop up dialog box with as many places to type in

//as you have students, and has the name of each student next

//to the place to type. This means that you should be able to

//write an A T or E next to each students name.

int howManyAbsent = 0;

int howManyTardy = 0;

int howManyExcused = 0;

for(int i = 0; i < numStudents; i++){

if(nameBox[i].getText().equalsIgnoreCase('A')){

howManyAbsent = howManyAbsent + 1;

}

else if(nameBox[i].getText().equalsIgnoreCase('T')){

howManyTardy = howManyTardy + 1;

}

else if(nameBox[i].getText().equalsIgnoreCase('E')){

howManyExcused = howManyExcused + 1;

}

}

//goes through the list of A's, T's, E's, and Blanks,

//and for each one, adds 1 to a corresponding variable

JOptionPane.showMessageDialog

(null, "# of Absent Students: " + howManyAbsent

+ "# of Tardy Students: " + howManyTardy

+ "# of Excused Students: " + howManyExcused);

//prints out a page with the number of each student who

//was not on time.

}

}