News Release: September 1, 2005
Tuskegee University is Accepting Students Displaced by Hurricane Katrina
TUSKEGEE UNIVERSITY, AL – (September 1, 2005) – Tuskegee University announced today its plan to be of assistance to students and families by enrolling currently registered students from colleges and universities that are closed as a result of the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina.
Interested students should contact the Office of the Registrar (334-727-8505) not later than Wednesday, September 7, 2005.
"The efforts of Hurricane Katrina upon the populations of the Gulf states and beyond have been horrendous and its damage to human lives and property all but incalculable," said Tuskegee University's President, Dr. Benjamin F. Payton. "Although Tuskegee University's financial resources are limited, its capacity to accept and to educate students to the highest standards possible is outstanding. We will do everything in our power to help. With the assistance of our friends and supporters, we will even enlarge our capacity to help. But we must not kid ourselves. This crisis is as large as it is horrific. All Americans need to find ways to come to the aid of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. We must insist upon their being given the highest level of support possible by federal and state governments, as well as by non-governmental organizations and individuals."
Tuskegee University 's efforts will center on sister institutions such as Dillard University and Xavier University of New Orleans, and Bishop State College in Mobile, Alabama, but will be open to any students from accredited post-secondary institutions in the Gulf states, which have been closed by virtue of the hurricane.
The University is prepared to accept these students immediately. It will then be the obligation of all provisionally accepted students and their families to cooperate fully with the University in effecting the transfer of all documentation to finalize their acceptance plus any previously awarded federal financial aid, private loans and other resources required to meet their financial obligations to the University.
For more information, contact Denise L. Berkhalter, Director of Public & Media Affairs in the Tuskegee University Office of Marketing and Communications, at
media@tuskegee.edu, (334) 724-4553 (direct), 552-1292 (cell) or 724-4586 (fax).