Vaccinated Colorado Teenagers Have A Shot At $50,000 Scholarships

DENVER (CBS4) - Colorado teenagers between the ages of 12-17 have a chance to win a $50,000 scholarship. Gov. Jared Polis announced the Comeback Cash Scholarship program on Wednesday, which will offer a total of 25 scholarships for eligible teens who have received the COVID-19 vaccination.

The state will randomly select five recipients of the $50,000 scholarship each Monday for five weeks. The winners will be announced on Fridays, June 11, June 18, June 25, July 2 and July 9.

The program aims to incentivize vaccines for teens like Larkin Neely, a YouTuber with 5,000 subscribers on his channel Lark_BTW.

"I'm really aiming to go farther, like get 10,000 subscribers by the end of summer," Neely said.

The 13 year old is only starting to figure out his plan after high school.

"I'm excited for college because it's what makes your career," he explained to CBS4.

Neely thinks it could be fun to study computers or even play baseball, but he's concerned about the price tag.

"Well, I know that it's expensive," he figured. "I'm super excited that I could win $50,000 for college because then I wouldn't have to make my parents pay as much."

The Colorado Department of Higher Education estimates 55% of students who graduated with a college degree in 2019 carried $25,700 in student loan debt. The opportunity to win a $50,000 scholarship could go a long way for local students.

Lucky for Larkin, he's already got one vaccine shot, so he'll qualify for the first drawing June 7.

"I've got like five years left until so I'm going to focus on high school first," he said.

He's hopeful, but it's not the end of the world if he doesn't win, because he plans to save up somehow, potentially even making some money from his YouTube channel.

"We'll just keep raising up money to go to a good college," Larkin said.