This College Is Paying Students Not To Take Trips For Spring Break

As spring arrives, the University of California Davis has found a novel way to keep the pandemic at bay: paying students to stay home. Up to 2,000 students can apply for $75 stipends to stay in town and get tested for COVID-19, the Associated Press reports.

The program was originally capped at 750 applicants but was expanded due to unexpected student interest. To qualify, attendees must simply describe their spring break plans. One pledge to stay in town and get tested later, they’re free to go and spend their new pocket change at local businesses.

“The idea behind this was to provide a positive incentive for students to follow public health guidance,” Sheri Atkinson, Davis’ associate vice chancellor of student affairs, told the Los Angeles Times.

She said student response has been “awesome,” noting that half the student body lives on or around the campus.

The $150,000 needed to fund the program will come out of philanthropic donations or other university funds, not affecting student tuition.

U.C. Davis isn’t the only college eying spring break with anxiety: vacationing students provided COVID-19 with a vital reservoir early on in the pandemic, subverting efforts to keep the virus contained. Colleges across the U.S. are altering schedules to keep enrollees from traveling.

Texas A&M University has shortened spring break to a three-day weekend. The University of Alabama and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have done likewise, substituting a day off down the line. The University of Mississippi will continue classes and end the semester early.

Universities may not have to worry much longer: with vaccination efforts ramping up, the Biden administration expects inoculation to be available to all Americans by the end of May.