University offers students money not to travel
Forbes 13 March 2021
In a unique effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus, the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) in the United States will pay US$75 ‘grants’ to its students to discourage them from travelling during spring break this year. It’s money they can spend on ‘staycations’, writes Michael T Nietzel for
Forbes.
The programme, entitled ‘Healthy Davis Together’, is a partnership between the university and the city of Davis, California. The university announced it in a press release on Friday 5 March promising students they’d be eligible for a US$75 grant if they didn’t travel during the 20-24 March break.
UC Davis Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Life
Sheri Atkinson joined CNN’s
Brianna Keilar Wednesday to explain the program.
“The idea came because we are asking our students not to travel during spring break, to prevent the spread of Covid, and so we thought it would be important to provide them with an alternative of something to do during that time,” Atkinson said. “So through our initiative with Healthy Davis Together, we are offering them the $75 grant to do one of four activities they can apply for to get that grant.”
The activities would essentially require students to be on campus in order to get the money, but the university isn’t prohibiting all students from traveling.