The White House announced last month that 70% of U.S. adults are fully vaccinated and 80% are at least partially vaccinated. Vaccination rates among college students are higher than the national rate, and students largely support their universities’ vaccine requirements.
A new College Pulse survey of 900 undergraduates finds that almost 9 in 10 (88%) college students report receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, up from 82% in early August. Like the country at large, students who identify as Democrats and Independents are more likely than those who identify as Republicans to report receiving a vaccine (98% and 89% respectively vs. 58%). A majority (58%) of students say their college required a COVID-19 vaccine in order to return to campus this fall. More than three-quarters (78%) of students at private universities say their college required a COVID-19 vaccine, compared to 53% of students at public universities.
The data shows that a majority of students are attending schools that line up with their personal stance on the vaccines, though universities with vaccine mandates have more student support than those without mandates. More than 8 in 10 (81%) students whose schools did require a vaccine to return to campus say they agree with their school’s vaccine policy, and almost 6 in 10 (59%) students whose schools didn’t require a vaccine say they agree with their school’s decision. A College Pulse survey conducted in January found that 71% of students overall believe colleges have the right to require vaccinations before students return to campus.
Percentage of students who agree or disagree with their college’s COVID-19 vaccine policy, or their college’s decision to not require COVID-19 vaccines.
Among students whose schools didn’t require vaccines, more than one-third (37%) say their school did apply a reward for getting the vaccine. One in 10 (11%) say their school applied a penalty for not getting the vaccine and 18% are not sure either way. Among students whose schools applied a penalty, about 4 in 10 (39%) say the penalty was extremely effective and 33% say it was somewhat effective. By comparison, students whose schools applied a reward are less likely to say the reward was extremely effective (21%) and more likely to say it was somewhat effective (51%).
When it comes to communication around COVID-19 policies this fall, a majority of students say their school did either an excellent or a good job letting students know about the guidelines. About 4 in 10 students rate their college’s communication around its vaccine policy before the return to campus as either excellent (36%) or good (41%), with a minority rating their school’s communication as fair (18%) or poor (4%). However, fewer students (26%) rate their college’s communication around its other COVID-19 policies as excellent. Nearly half (45%) rate the communication around other pandemic policies as good, 1 in 5 (20%) rate it as fair, and 1 in 10 (9%) as poor.
How would you rate your college’s communication around its vaccine and other COVID-19 policies (e.g., social distancing, quarantining)?
Students overwhelmingly say they’re wearing masks in class (81%) and anywhere on campus indoors (77%). But female students are more likely than male students to say they’re masking in class (85% vs. 77%), as well as in other situations. The gap is biggest among female and male students who say they’re wearing masks at grocery stores (73% vs. 55%).
Nearly one-third (31%) of students say their school’s mask policy changed since the fall 2021 semester started, and about 1 in 5 say policies around testing (23%), vaccines (21%), or social distancing (20%) shifted. Almost half (47%) say no COVID-19 policies changed at their university. Despite campus guideline changes, a majority of students say it was at least somewhat easy to keep track of their campus’ policy changes. One-quarter (25%) of students who report policy changes say they were very easy to keep track of, while 53% say it was somewhat easy and 18% say it was somewhat difficult. Just 4% say it was very difficult to navigate the changes.
Each semester is sure to bring new challenges surrounding COVID-19, but a majority of students support their university’s stance on vaccines and feel like they can sufficiently keep track of changing campus guidelines.
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Methodology: This survey was designed and conducted by College Pulse. Interviews were conducted in November among a sample of 1,500 full-time and part-time students attending colleges or universities in the U.S. who are part of College Pulse’s American College Student Panel.
