Student Aid and Services

A list of student aid and services specifically aimed at assisting those affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and/or Wilma.

Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD)
Documenting information specifically aimed at assisting DSS professionals help students with disabilities make a smooth transition and adjustment in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. S.O.S. - Serve our Students includes:

Suggestions/questions to help guide your initial intake with students with disabilities who have little or no documentation available
Suggestions/questions to guide integration into the campus setting
Innovative ideas that may help these displaced students in unique ways
Reflections from AHEAD members who have lived through similar significant natural disasters
Suggestions/questions that students with disabilities might ask themselves in trying to determine how best to find a host campus that will be a good match to their needs and their resources
A growing list of resource people

Black Women in Science and Engineering (BWISE) Foundation
BWISE is searching for the location of African American students in science, engineering and medicine who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. We would like to know how many students fitting this description were relocated to your site and what their needs are. This will enable the BWISE Foundation to more realistically determine funding while assessing the financial and holistic needs of this particular population.

We would also like to obtain the name and position of persons in other offices who may work directly with the relocated African American students in science, engineering, and medicine. We would like them to identify names and locations of the students' original institutions before the natural disaster; and assess and quantify student needs in the following areas:

Family locations after the disaster
Needs due to the move to the host college, i.e. books, resources, materials, equipment, etc.
Identification of other college students in this category who were not able to relocate to a college this semester because of pressing needs related to the natural disaster
Other needs determined by students and host institutions

Please contact Sharon Harper, Founder and CEO, if you have any information on this population or if you have any questions.

Mississippi Student Financial Aid
Links to grants, scholarships, apprenticeships, internships, and loans, including application forms for alll of these for the Mississippi Institutes of Higher Learning

National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA)
Creating a central repository of financial aid related policy guidance and information, the Hurricane Katrina/Rita Resource Page. It includes an ever-expanding list of news from schools affected by Katrina, links to news media articles, information on what those schools not directly affected by the hurricane are doing to help schools and students who were, and access to NASFAA's materials on consortium agreements to aid schools that are able to work out written agreements for their students to temporarily attend classes elsewhere.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
Assisting institutions that have received or dispersed students displaced by Hurricane Katrina by creating the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) reporting guidelines. These guidelines relate to the Institutional Characteristics, Enrollment, Student Financial Aid, and Graduation Rate surveys.

Scholarship America's Disaster Relief Fund for Postsecondary Education Students
Institutions may apply for funds to assist students that were affected by Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma:

if the institution is within the Federally declared disaster areas, it is eligible for $25,000-35,000 depending on enrollment
or
if the institution has accepted displaced students into their institution, it is eligible for $15,000-175,000 depending on enrollment

Applications are being accepted now, review the program guidelines for details--deadline March 1, 2006.

U.S. Department of Education
Assisting students enrolled in postsecondary education impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The Federal Student Aid: Hurricane Information Page provides links to information we have posted to various Web sites relating to the impact of the hurricanes on students, parents, borrowers, colleges and universities, and financial institutions that participate in the Federal higher education student assistance programs. In addition, participants can call the phone numbers listed to ask questions not answered in the posted documents. Please check this page regularly for updates, as we will continue to post information as soon as it is available.