Maryland Offers Tuition Raffle to Boost Football Attendance

The University of Maryland has devised a new approach to boost attendance at next Saturday’s football game: hold a fourth-quarter raffle to give students in attendance a chance to win free tuition for the spring semester.

The Maryland Terrapins have a 2-5 record this season, and attendance at games has been sparse. Michael Locksley, the head coach since 2018, stepped down last week with a 38-49 record and only three seasons over .500.

At Saturday’s contest against the University of Illinois, students who scan a QR code and remain at the stadium until the fourth quarter will be eligible for the raffle to receive a semester’s worth of free in-state base tuition, worth about $5,500, a spokesperson confirmed.

“Our motivation was to create a ‘wow’ giveaway that would entice student attendance at the game and encourage them to stay all four quarters,” Rachel Palmer, Maryland’s assistant athletic director of fan development and event marketing, told Inside Higher Ed in a statement. “The student body creates a meaningful impact inside SECU Stadium on game day and this raffle should encourage even more to come out on Halloween. We’re encouraged by the positive response and are eager to announce a winner on Saturday!”

It’s not the first time the university has tried such a scheme; in 2018, UMD paid a total of $28,000 in scholarships to students who stayed at football games until the fourth quarter.

For Saturday’s game, in addition to the raffle, the first 3,000 students will receive a free T-shirt, and those in Halloween costumes will have a chance to win prizes, according to the spokesperson.