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Syracuse University will charge students who may have limited access to coronavirus testing $49 for at-home coronavirus testing kits.

SU officials will mail students the at-home testing kit so they can fulfill the university’s pre-travel test requirement before returning to campus, said Vice Chancellor Mike Haynie and Amanda Nicholson, interim deputy senior vice president of enrollment and student experience, in a campus-wide email.

All students must submit proof of a negative COVID-19 test result within seven days of their arrival on campus. The university in an email told first-year students who plan to quarantine in SU housing that they can expect to receive an at-home test kit Tuesday. The students should complete and mail back the tests to the university by the end of the day.

Students who have access to rapid COVID-19 testing in their community do not have to use the university’s at-home testing kit. Haynie and Nicholson encouraged students who have access to testing to receive a test seven to 10 days before their return so they can submit their results in time.

“Syracuse University is making this testing option available to support those students and families who face challenges accessing testing resources in their own communities,” they said.

SU will release specifics “in the coming days” on how returning students can request and complete an at-home COVID-19 test, the officials said. The university will also communicate later this week how students who don’t use the at-home test kit can submit test results to the university.

The university will post the results of students’ at-home tests to an online portal approximately 24 to 48 hours after receiving their samples, Haynie and Nicholson said.

Published on July 28, 2020 at 4:24 pm

Contact Abby: akweiss@syr.edu | @abbyweiss_21