Mississippi State University is incentivizing students to be vaccinated before school begins by offering various prizes in drawings, including two scholarships valued at $9,000 each.
The MSU Division of Student Affairs has been raffling off prizes to students who have submitted their vaccination record and will continue to grant these rewards until school begins. Students can submit their vaccination record through the school’s COVID-19 vaccination website, covidvaccine.msstate.edu.
Some of the prizes include $100 flexible dining dollars through MSU Dining Services, $250 book vouchers through Barnes and Noble at MSU, parking decal vouchers through MSU Parking and Transit Services and two drawings for the tuition support scholarships.
The drawing for the first $9,000 scholarship will be the week of Aug. 16.
Vice President for Student Affairs Regina Hyatt said the Division of Student Affairs received a grant from the Delta Health Alliance to fund these incentives as a way to encourage students to get vaccinated.
“We’re already seeing a great response from our students in submitting their vaccination records and are very excited about that,” Hyatt said. “Just the social media traffic and different inquiries we have from students has been very positive.”
Student Affairs randomly selects one student who has registered their vaccination card each Friday. Hyatt said vaccine portal submissions have tripled since the office announced July 12 there would be prize drawings.
Additionally, any faculty or staff member who receives or has received their vaccine from the Longest Student Health Center will get a free “National Champions” T-shirt or hat.
While anyone can make an appointment with the health center to receive their vaccine, the university will host 16 different pop-up vaccination clinics across campus throughout the semester beginning Aug. 8. Hyatt said all faculty, staff and students who choose not to be vaccinated are expected to wear masks once school begins.
Hyatt said the university plans to return to in-person classes in the fall, and vaccinated students will help create a safer environment for the MSU community.
“We are not expecting to do the capacity limitations that we had to do last year, so we expect classes to be back at full capacity,” Hyatt said.
Senior Sara Katherine Waller, a public relations major, said these incentives could greatly impact students who may struggle financially.
“I think anywhere where you throw out this much money to college students is beneficial,” Waller said. “I definitely entered my name into the incentive drawing because I know these prizes would help me out a lot.”
Waller said students should get vaccinated because it will not only ensure safety to the community but also create a better learning environment for students.
“I think getting vaccinated is all part of getting things back to normal,” Waller said. “I think the only way for us to keep improving is for people to get vaccinated. Not only are we protecting ourselves, but we’re protecting the community and the staff.”
Mississippi University for Women Executive Director of University Relations said MUW plans to give out T-shirts to its students, faculty and staff members and plans on having more incentives in the future.
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