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University takes displaced students

Written by Tracie Morales

Thursday, 01 September 2005 11:00 PM

Officials say the university is trying to be generous in allowing the students.
Phones have been ringing off the hook as the university organizes efforts to enroll students affected by Hurricane Katrina, said Dale Wasson, associate vice president for student enrollment.

“Most are ready to go to school,” he said. “They want to go to school.”

Public Affairs Director Bob Wright said 84 students from various universities from affected areas have directly contacted the university, seeking enrollment.

Also, a phone call was received Thursday from Paradise Missionary Baptist Church in Dallas, requesting information about admission to the university for 100 New Orleans students from Delgado Community College and the Southern University System who are staying there.

“We’ve never encountered anything like this before,” Wright said. “We’re having to do everything for the first time.”

Wasson said the university is not asking for extensive records or information because most students cannot get a hold of anyone at their universities. He said students have been calling for admission information from schools such as Tulane University, Loyola University New Orleans, University of New Orleans and Louisiana State University.

“We’re trying to make it as straight forward and objective to get students in school so they don’t lose a semester,” he said.

Sharonda McClellan, urban and regional planning graduate student at the University of New Orleans, began searching for schools opening their doors to students affected by the hurricane after evacuating the city this weekend.

She said she was searching on the Internet and saw a posting from UTA as one of the schools admitting students displaced by the hurricane. She said she had applied to UTA earlier but chose to attend the University of New Orleans instead.

“Since I’ve been admitted, I just have to register,” she said.

McClellan said she paid tuition for the University of New Orleans and is now trying to take out a loan to pay for the tuition if she attends another university. She said she has contacted UTA and UT-Austin but will decide which school she will attend when she figures out how to finance it.

“The money thing, that’s the problem,” she said.

Wasson said students will be required to pay tuition but will extend the normal deadline. He said there was no information about waiving out-of-state tuition fees but said 85 percent to 95 percent of students going through the admissions process are Texas residents and would not be subject to the out-of-state fees.

“We’re trying to be generous,” he said. “If it takes all semester, at the end of the term we’ll work with that.”

Wright said the university is evaluating each student’s request for admittance based on if he or she was enrolled at a university affected by the hurricane.

“There’s going to be a point where we just don’t have enough room, and we won’t take any more students,” he said. “We’re not at that point.”
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