Center for Global Education | Help for Students - Colleges and Universities Respond

United States Colleges and Universities
Help for Student Victims of Hurricanes
Before you go home

As the end of the fall semester nears, many students who have been displaced by hurricane Katrina are preparing to return to their home states and/or institutions. For the latest information on college and university re-openings, please click on the state your school is located in below:

2. Updates on school re-openings

Alabama
Louisiana
Mississippi
Texas

The Louisiana Board of Regents also has updated information for all Louisiana schools, both public and private.

3. What colleges and universities are doing

Colleges and universities that were shut down due to Katrina are doing their best to re-open and resume normal operations. Read Tulane University President Scott Cowen’s comments below:

Universities and colleges sustained different amounts of damage to their campuses, and not all will be able to resume normal operations for the spring semester. Institutions are doing all they can to be able to welcome students back to their campuses. Universities have also been assisting each other in this effort.

Read a recent article about New Orleans’ Private Universities joining together:

Tulane, Xavier, Dillard and Loyola universities are working together to support one another's efforts to resume classes in January. The four institutions have formed a consortium that will allow Xavier and Dillard to hold classes this spring on the campuses of Tulane and Loyola universities, as well as to share meeting and administrative space among the four schools.

The effort will allow Dillard and Xavier students to maintain a sense of community and identity—physically and symbolically—for the calendar year 2006. Dillard and Xavier students will be able to attend classes on Tulane and Loyola's campuses so long as they pay their tuition to their home schools. Tulane and Loyola courses will be available to Dillard and Xavier students on a space available basis. “Tulane invited us to consider a Memorandum of Understanding, which we developed collaboratively,” said Dillard President Marvalene Hughes. “They have responded enthusiastically and we approved this opportunity to return to our home in New Orleans.”

A task force has been organized to formulate details and implementation. The task force will hold a series of meetings in Atlanta, New Orleans and Houston as plans are finalized for the Spring '06 semester. (Loyola New Orleans website, 10/12/2005)

Returning to your home institution may not be a simple matter for you on many levels. Read about other students’ decisions to return to their home institutions below:

(taken from Rombom, R. Tulane students prep for Homecoming The Dartmouth.com 11/18/2005)

As students start preparing to leave Hanover for leave terms and winter break, those students Dartmouth accepted when Hurricane Katrina devastated Gulf Coast-area schools are getting ready to say goodbye to Dartmouth and move back to their home institutions permanently. "I have to say, I did not expect to be as sad about leaving Dartmouth as I am," Krista Saubert said. "At first I was like, 'I just want to get back to Tulane,' but now I'm saying, 'If I could stay for the year that would be really cool.'"
Saubert is not considering transferring, however, because she is scheduled to graduate from Tulane a semester early and is required to enroll there this spring. Aaron Gleiberman moved into Bones Gate fraternity after the organization volunteered the space for a Gulf Coast-area student. "I attribute a lot of my success at Dartmouth to BG," he said. "I think I would have been nowhere near as happy [living somewhere else]."

While he admits that the social life at Dartmouth is more active than he had originally thought, Gleiberman does not plan to apply as a transfer student. "I think about it, but the fact of the matter is that Tulane's my home," he said.

Many students have had very positive experiences at the institutions they attended after Katrina, but are taking steps towards returning home:

(taken from Abril, D. Students displaced by Hurricane Katrina prepare to return to home schools SMU Daily, 11/18/ 2005)

After spending a semester at SMU, Louisiana transfers are taking the next step. Moving past the devastation of Katrina, most students are ready to return to their familiar environment of Louisiana. I miss my school, my friends and the city. I liked it here [at SMU] but it was just different, Jason Blanchard, a junior legal studies and business major, said.

Blanchard said he found SMU to be more focused on academics than what he was used to at his home school Tulane. He was surprised to find that Dallas bars close at 2 a.m., whereas in Louisiana they stay open all night. He was accustomed to nightly opportunities to go out. Ben Fisher, a junior Tulane transfer, related to Blanchard's situation. Fisher, who is from Denver, is also leaving for the spring semester. Fisher is a chemical engineering major. His main reason for returning to Tulane is because SMU doesn't offer his course of study. He said his experience at SMU was like no other. It was kind of like a semester abroad. I got to start over, he said.

Sheree Guimont, who transferred from Xavier University, is also returning to Louisiana in spring. Her reasons for leaving SMU are based on her academic goals, grades and scholarships. She said if she didn't return to Xavier she might lose her scholarship. It was not only her situation but her heart that led her to leave. I was comfortable there. I made it my home, she said. Guimont said initially she was in denial about the severity of Katrina. However, it hit her when she arrived at her home in Dallas. Although excited, she confessed to apprehensions in returning to Louisiana. ;I don't know what I'm going back to. I don't know what the conditions will be like, if all my teachers and friends will be there, she said. Each for their own reason, most Katrina transfers are ready to return to their home school. According to the SMU Registrar's Office, out of the 200 students who attended the school during the fall semester, only 10 have applied for spring.

5. Exercises and Resources in this section

Just as you went through a period of adjustment to temporary homes and universities, you will now have to re-adjust to going back. It is important to begin preparing for your return in advance; as you re-adjust to being back it may be helpful to know a little more about what you are going through and some positive ways of dealing with it.

Understanding Re-entry Issues

The feelings you may experience upon returning may be similar to those of students who have returned home from studying in another country. The feelings and stresses you encounter upon returning home are known as “re-entry” issues. Many resources have been developed to assist such students with the process of re-entry. While your experience has not necessarily been abroad, in the traditional sense, many of you have spent the last semester in a completely different geographic area and a local culture that may have been unfamiliar to you until now. Others of you may have been closer to home, perhaps even with family members, but returning will still have its challenges. As a result, you may very well experience the process of re-entry, much like those who have gone abroad.

Many students who return home are likely to experience some common issues. While going home may not be easy for you, you can familiarize yourself to what some of these concerns are and how they may affect your mental health. This way, you can recognize what you may be feeling, know that these feelings are normal, and know what to do or where to turn to for help, if needed.

Journaling is one way that you can record your thoughts, feelings, and concerns in order to prepare yourself for home. Read an article here about journaling from Loyola University, New Orleans, one university whose students were displaced by Katrina.

Preparing for Home

This exercise gives you the chance to record your concerns about returning, as well as what you will miss about where you have been this last semester.

How have you changed?

This exercise provides an opportunity for you to think about how you have changed before going back home, and how those changes may influence how you experience home.

Evaluating your ties at home

Just as you have changed as a result of your experience, home has certainly changed as well. This exercise is provided for you to reflect on how things have changed so that you know what to expect upon your return.

Preparing to Return Home exercise

This exercise gives you an opportunity to reflect on the experience of your semester away, and what things you want to take with you.

Potential Re-entry issues

This section is lists potential problems that those returning home after periods elsewhere often encounter, and problems that you may encounter as a result of the effects of Katrina in particular.

Pre-Departure Checklist

This is a list of practical considerations for you prior to leaving your current institution or location.

Reflecting on your experience of spending the last semester elsewhere and thinking about your expectations of home may help ease the relocation process for you. You are encouraged to complete all exercises before you return home, and follow up with the second set of exercises in the next section, The Return Home, once you are there.