College football teams that are struggling will do just about anything to get fans into the stadium. Free T-shirts or concession vouchers are one thing. Free tuition is another. Maryland is offering students a chance to win $5,507.50 toward spring 2027 semester tuition simply for showing up Saturday against Illinois at SECU Stadium and staying until the fourth quarter.
Students can enter by scanning a QR code on the stadium video board, with the winner announced during the fourth quarter. It’s a game-day promotion that could make sitting through the final 15 minutes of Terrapins football a worthwhile investment.
Five finalists will be randomly selected and brought onto the field during the fourth quarter, where one lucky student will win the tuition prize.
Given how Maryland’s season has gone, students likely need extra motivation.
The Terps (2-5, 0-4 Big Ten) have lost five straight games and 12 consecutive conference matchups dating to last season.
Moreover, it’s been more than 13 months since their last conference win, a 27-10 victory over Wisconsin on Sept. 20, 2025. Maryland hasn’t won a Big Ten game at home since Oct. 19, 2024, a 29-28 triumph over USC.
The most recent home game, a 37-30 loss to Rutgers on Oct. 17, saw the Terrapins blow a 10-point halftime lead. Four days later, head coach Mike Locksley was fired, and Aazaar Abdul-Rahim was named interim head coach.
Maryland is averaging 42,264 fans across four home games this season, nearly 4,000 less than SECU Stadium’s capacity of 46,185.
Of course, announced attendance doesn’t account for how many fans head for the exits before the final whistle. But Maryland is giving students a compelling reason to resist that urge this Saturday, regardless of how the game against Illinois (4-3, 2-2) is going.
The first 3,000 students through the gates will receive a Halloween-themed T-shirt, but the tuition raffle offers a more substantial reward for enduring the afternoon.
Maryland hasn’t been giving students many reasons to watch until the final whistle, but $5,507.50 toward tuition is a pretty good one.
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Mike Garbett is a content specialist working with McClatchy’s Content Innovation Lab.