Maryland Offers Free Tuition in Football Game Raffle
Students can win a semester of free tuition by staying through the fourth quarter of a home football game.
The University of Maryland is offering students a chance to win a semester of free tuition by remaining in their seats through the end of Saturday's football game against Illinois. The promotion aims to encourage attendance for the entire duration of home games.
To enter the raffle, Maryland students must claim their tickets, scan them at the entrance of SECU Stadium, and then scan a QR code displayed on the video board. One student will be selected to receive the equivalent of undergraduate in-state tuition, up to approximately $8,000, for the spring semester.
The unique incentive comes as the Maryland Terrapins football team has faced a challenging season. The team currently holds a 2-5 record overall and is 0-4 in Big Ten conference play. The Terrapins have not secured a Big Ten victory since September 20, 2025. Head coach Mike Locksley was recently dismissed from his position.
Despite the team's performance, the tuition raffle is reportedly not a direct response to the current season's struggles. According to Rachel Palmer, assistant athletic director for fan development and marketing, the concept was developed over the summer. "We've tried a lot of things over the years, raffling off premium giveaways, contests and ultimately landed on this idea of a tuition raffle," Palmer told WBAL-TV. She described the challenge of keeping students engaged for the full length of a college football game as a national issue.
"It is kind of a problem, I think, across the country, honestly, with college football," Palmer stated. "It's a pretty long game and they have a lot of other things they can be doing. So we just want to make sure coming to SECU Stadium [and] supporting our football team for all four quarters is higher on their priority list, especially on Halloween."
The five finalists for the tuition raffle will be brought onto the field during the fourth quarter, at which point the winner will be determined. This season, Maryland has averaged 42,264 fans per home game, ranking 15th among the 18 teams in the Big Ten conference.