NEW YORK— In the wake of unprecedented devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, Fordham University has extended its assistance to displaced undergraduate, graduate and law students who wish to continue their studies while their home schools and their Gulf Coast communities recover.
Fordham is accepting applications from students who were forced to vacate the Gulf Coast regions. Students are accepted based on the University’s qualifications for admission and its ability to meet the student’s housing and academic needs. So far, the University has received more than 150 inquiries and has admitted third-year law students, graduate students and undergraduates. As classes are already underway, displaced students wishing to continue their studies at Fordham are urged to take action immediately so that they can begin classes by Sept. 9. Over the Labor Day weekend, students may inquire about admission via email at mmcdonnell@fordham.edu , and they may apply online atwww.fordham.edu/admissions.
In an effort to assist families and schools already strained by the hurricane’s destruction, students who have paid tuition at their home institution for the fall of 2005 will attend Fordham’s fall semester tuition-free. Additionally, Fordham upperclassmen have been invited to offer space in their rooms to accommodate an additional student in residence halls that are currently at capacity. Fordham will honor this outreach by not charging room fees to these visitors. Students will be registered at Fordham as visitors and encouraged to return to their home schools as soon as they reopen to help ensure the long-term security, stability and viability of the Gulf Coast schools.
To aid the people of New Orleans and the surrounding areas, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., the president of Fordham University, has called upon all members of the University family to join him in a hurricane relief effort.
Father McShane has initiated a fundraising drive with a $25,000 donation from the president’s discretionary fund. The University community will seek to double that amount by the end of October. All of the money raised on campus will be designated for hurricane relief efforts by the American Red Cross and Catholic Charities USA.
“Let us continue to pray for the souls of those who died, for the consolation of those who mourn, and for the recovery of those who are struggling to rebuild their lives,” said Father McShane in a University communication. “And let us, who were helped and consoled by the generosity and kindness of so many of our fellow citizens in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, resolve to make a difference in the lives of the survivors by reaching out to them in their hour of need.”
