Based on current registration numbers, 86 percent of Tulane students displaced by Hurricane Katrina will return to the university next semester, 4 percent below what would be expected during a normal year, according to insidehighered.com.
The American Council on Education and seven other higher education institutions issued guidelines shortly after the hurricane urging colleges that admitted displaced students to welcome them as guests, not permanent students, according to insidehighered.com. The schools were encouraged not to let the students enroll in their schools after the Gulf Coast colleges and universities reopened.
While almost every college in the United States is a member of one of the associations that developed the guidelines, many are ignoring the non-transfer rule.
Nathan Price, special assistant to Ivy Broder, acting provost at AU, said AU admitted 111 displaced Gulf Coast students this semester. Most stayed at the main campus, but 21 enrolled in the Washington Semester Program and 19 went to the Washington College of Law.
"The university has focused its efforts on providing a temporary bridge for the displaced students, to help them stay on track with their studies and to support them in returning to their home schools when those are ready to reopen," Price said in an e-mail.
However, the students are welcome to enroll at AU through the normal transfer application process, he said.
"... We have to leave [the decision] up to individual students' discretion," Price said.
Curtis Cunningham is a senior studying at the Kogod School of Business who came to AU from Tulane after Katrina. Cunningham, a New Orleans native, lost his high school transcript in the flooding and left all of his forms of identification home when he evacuated. He said he chose AU over other schools because the school was willing to accept him on his word without any proof he was a Tulane student.
Cunningham said he decided to transfer to AU for his last semester of college. He will still be receiving a Tulane diploma, so it does not matter where he finishes his last semester, he said.
"I might as well choose ... based on which experience I enjoyed more," he said.
According to insidehighered.com, 77 percent of freshmen are returning to Tulane, and over 90 percent of juniors and seniors are going back.
Getting students to return to Tulane and other Gulf Coast schools will be an issue because tuition and other costs are a lot of money to pay while hoping another hurricane will not devastate the area again, Cunningham said. However, most of the upperclassmen he knows are going back next semester, he said.
"And they're excited to return," he added.
