Dive Brief:
- In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Tulane University has invited students from higher ed institutions in Puerto Rico to attend the school tuition free during the spring 2018 semester, provided they pay the semester’s tuition to their original institution, according to a press email from the institution.
- Tulane says it will offer advisors and student support for visiting students and will try to help them find housing for the course of the semester. The program is also open for students in areas like the U.S. Virgin Islands and St. Martin that have also been hit by damaging hurricanes.
- Representatives from Tulane note many institutions throughout the United States and the world took in students from the New Orleans-based university after Hurricane Katrina hit the city in 2005 — so Tulane officials say they want to return the generosity for another region impacted by a damaging storm.
Dive Insight:
Hurricane Harvey’s impact on Houston, TX in late August also spurred New Orleans colleges and universities into action. The schools there have a very strong and personal understanding of how devastating a natural disaster can be to undergraduate education, says Tulane President Emeritus Scott Cowen — who was presiding over the institution when Hurricane Katrina hit and cost the city of New Orleans over a hundred billion dollars. He told Education Dive that many research facilities had to be entirely rebuilt, and the medical school actually moved to Houston. Students and faculty were displaced for the semester without access to facilities, and there were some higher ed institutions in New Orleans during Katrina that suffered even more significant damage due to the storm.
Tulane’s request to have students pay their original schools in Puerto Rico is a reaction to the declines in enrollment the institution faced post-Katrina. In addition to physical damage that occurred, the substantial drop in enrollment dollars was followed by a loss of students that prompted financial danger and even ruin for some of Louisiana's most vulnerable institutions. Continued funding after reopening could help Puerto Rican schools avoid the issues some New Orleans schools faced, as Dillard University President Walter Kimbrough said many facilities were built quickly but poorly after Katrina, with schools needing to replace roofs on campus facilities a little more than a decade after the storm.
In the face of a disastrous storm season, higher ed institutions in volatile climate regions must consider increasing the amount of communications and partnerships they have with others in the industry — in the event that destructive weather event occurs. Colleges and universities in an area suffering from hurricanes may consider linking with partner institutions that can offer a plan to accept students quickly and efficiently if the need should arise. This would also make students more willing to continue to enroll in universities like those in Puerto Rico and New Orleans even if the weather is hard to predict.