Bookstore bucks for shots? A college in San Diego County is the latest place to offer a vaccine incentive for its students: A $300 credit at the campus bookstore for those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
MiraCosta College in Oceanside said Monday that the college would give up to $3 million in Higher Education Emergency Relief Funding (HEERF) to encourage unvaccinated students to get fully vaccinated.
Here’s how the incentive program works: The college said any student registered for a fall 2021 course at MiraCosta who gets his or her COVID-19 vaccination – two doses of Moderna or Pfizer or the one-dose J&J vaccine – can submit that verification through their student SURF account. With that, the student would be eligible to get a $300 credit to use in the MiraCosta College Bookstore.
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The school said students can shop with their credit at the bookstore at 1 Barnard Dr. on campus or use their credit to order books online from the campus store. The books can be shipped or picked up.
The MiraCosta Community College District said this incentive program is part of the district’s ongoing commitment to reducing the spread of the virus.
In addition to the bookstore credit program, the college said that effective Aug. 23, all students and employees on campus for an extended time must be fully vaccinated. The college said this will impact anyone who is indoors for 15 minutes or more at the campus. The college said students and staff can seek a medical or religious exemption.
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The college will also require all community members visiting campus buildings to wear a face mask indoors.
“MiraCosta College has taken a cautious, thoughtful, and science-based approach to COVID-19, so we remain on the path that we charted several months ago,” Superintendent and President Sunny Cooke said in a press release Monday. “We are steadfast in providing a safe learning environment and workplace and doing our part to curb the spread of the disease.”
More on MiraCosta’s return to campus and COVID-19 protocols can be found here.
