A slew of colleges and universities are embracing COVID vaccine mandates, telling students if they want to attend classes on campus, they'll need to be vaccinated.

Meanwhile, a look at job postings across the country reveals many employers are requiring job candidates to get vaccinated, or promise to get vaccinated within 30 days of hire.

Whether you're a job hunter or a college student, you may soon face the prospect that your future plans could hinge on your willingness to get the COVID vaccine. But can colleges and employers legally require it? The answer is … complicated.

Colleges and universities are moving to mandate

More than 100 colleges across the country will require students to receive COVID vaccines in order to attend in-person classes in the fall, though most will allow medical and religious exemptions.

The list of colleges that will require the vaccine includes Stanford, Rutgers, University of Notre Dame, Duke University, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins and Yale. Other colleges and universities have said they will require athletes or those who live on campus to get a shot, according to The New York Times.

Many schools, including Boston College, Morehouse College in Georgia, University of California and the California State University systems and George Washington University have similar requirements for employees before they will be allowed to return to in-person teaching.

Colorado's major public universities announced Wednesday they will require students, faculty and staff to get COVID vaccinations before beginning the fall semester. The mandate means more than 170,000 students — most of the state's college students — will be required to be vaccinated, according to enrollment data from the Colorado Department of Higher Education.