With packed cars and buzzing excitement, students at York College of Pennsylvania checked in to grab their dorm keys Thursday.
But before they could enter their rooms they had to meet key requirements, thanks to the pandemic.
"They had a choice of showing proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test in the last three days prior to their arrival," said Mary Dolheimer, spokesperson for York College of Pennsylvania.
Students who are not vaccinated must also submit to random testing once a week, Dolheimer said.
The majority of their students complied with the rules, she added.
"Any outliers that are trying to move into a residence hall today that didn't complete that requirement will not be allowed to move in," said Dolheimer.
With no statewide mask or mandate in place in 20201, York College of Pennsylvania is among the higher education institutions in the state that had to make tough decisions over how to handle COVID-19 precautions.
"It's a bit more challenging this year, I think, because we're in between," Dolheimer said. "We're not completely closed and doing remote. And, we still have mitigation efforts in place."
York College of Pennsylvania:
- Strongly encourages vaccinations. "Unvaccinated students will be required to participate in our mandatory random surveillance testing and to quarantine if they are a close contact to someone who has COVID-19. Fully vaccinated students will be exempt from both of these requirements."
- Requires facemasks inside campus buildings. The college said the mandate will be lifted if and when it reaches a 70% vaccination rate among its campus community (including faculty, staff, and students).
- Relaxing social distancing requirements and the wearing of facemasks outdoors.
- Remote learning considered for students allergic to the COVID-19 vaccine or for students allergic to a component of the COVID-19 vaccine. Applications were due July 31.
Read more.
See the rules from other colleges and universities below: