Conn. Schools Offer Classes To Students Displaced By Hurricane
Conn. Schools Offer Classes
To Students Displaced By Hurricane
NEW HAVEN (AP) â The University of Connecticut on Friday joined other colleges in the state in offering to accept students from Connecticut who were displaced from Gulf Coast universities affected by Hurricane Katrina.
The four schools in the Connecticut State University system are also opening up slots for affected college students. Wesleyan University in Middletown was doing the same. And Sacred Heart University in Bridgeport extended the offer to anyone from the Northeast.
âIf they were from the region â New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts â I donât think weâd be turning anyone away,ââ said Sacred Heart spokeswoman Funda Alp.
Governor M. Jodi Rell said she asked CSUâs trustees to grant free tuition to students from Connecticut who were attending colleges affected by the hurricane. They would only need to pay room and board.
Sacred Heart said it would work with students on tuition.
UConnâs offer applies to all its campuses. The school said it will also accept up to 20 students from Tulane and Loyola law schools in New Orleans.
The school says it has already discussed the program with more than three dozen students affected by the disaster.
Fairfield University said it would offer advising sessions and placement in classes at its University College, the schoolâs preadmission section for people looking to get onto a degree track.
The University of New Haven is developing a program to provide tuition for the fall semester to college students affected by the hurricane, university officials said Friday.
Connecticut College officials said they have already enrolled two Tulane students and one Loyola student. The students are from Madison, Norwich, and New London and will commute. The New London college is also discussing options for other students, and has received nearly 20 inquiries from other students at Tulane and Loyola, college officials said.
Mitchell College in New London was opening its doors to any student who was affected by the hurricane. The college also said it would work with students on financial aid.
âWe wanted to get something out there as soon as possible. A lot of those students are pretty stunned and they donât know what to do,ââ said Kimberly Hodges, associate admissions director at Mitchell.
State Representative Donald Sherer, R-Stamford, the ranking Republican on the legislatureâs higher education committee, called several college officials on Thursday and asked them to get involved. He said it would be ideal to have schools across Connecticut waive their tuition so the students can commute to a nearby college and not miss a semester of education.
âMy goal in kind of organizing this effort was to get as many students, especially Connecticut students who were evacuated, back into the classroom,ââ he said. âI wanted this to be our part, Connecticutâs part, in showing our support.ââ
Also Friday, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport offered to open diocese elementary and secondary schools to Catholic school students from the Gulf Coast.
âOur schools will provide for tuition expenses for the time they are with us, and provide help with uniforms, books, and other supplies,â Bishop William E. Lori said.