MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Rhodes College plans to charge students who haven’t been vaccinated for COVID-19 – and don’t have a waiver - a $1,500 Health & Safety fee each semester.
A Rhodes spokesperson said the fee would cover the cost of testing. The spokesperson said the college plans to require vaccinations once they are approved by the FDA. Right now, they are strongly recommended.
You can read the statement from the college below:
Rhodes College plans to require vaccination upon FDA approval. At this time, we are strongly recommending it. We are pleased to see that a high percentage of our students, faculty, and staff have already chosen to be vaccinated. A campus-wide commitment to vaccination will mean that we can move towards full capacity and reduced masking allowing for the intentional in-person campus life experience that we all love about Rhodes.
We have heavily invested college resources this spring in our very successful asymptomatic testing strategy. Weekly — and in some cases biweekly testing—was the key to our ability to be on campus and keep everyone as safe as possible. With vaccinations safe and widely available, we want to shift towards encouraging vaccination, which reduces the need for asymptomatic testing. Those who choose to not get vaccinated will need to continue to be tested at least weekly. The health fee covers the cost of that testing for unvaccinated students without a waiver.
