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OPEN-DOOR POLICY
Katrina students welcomed
BY DEIRDRE FULTON
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More than 100 colleges and universities — including almost every Boston-area institution — are welcoming students displaced by Katrina. This Monday at Boston University, more than 120 Tulane students will start classes, and as long as they’ve paid their tuition at Tulane, they don’t owe BU more money (don’t get excited: Tulane costs $41,098, including room and board — a difference of just under $1000). Boston College, Tufts University, Harvard University, and the University of Massachusetts system have also opened their doors to students from Tulane and other universities. Several impromptu Web sites, such as http://o4sabk.blogspot.com, now list colleges, and even specific departments, that will accept additional undergraduate and graduate students nationwide. Yet many schools, already crunched for space, have no place to house academic refugees. Now, the message boards are filled with students looking for cheap, accessible, furnished apartments or rooms. One female Tulane senior who is coming to Boston this weekend wrote this on Craigslist: "I lost my home, school, and city.... I need a furnished room and want to live with other college kids since I don’t know anybody.... I am in a dire circumstance and really appreciate anything that can be done to help me." BU physics professor Bennett Goldberg has offered to accommodate a student this fall, and is encouraging his colleagues and already-enrolled students to "open their doors" as well. "I feel strongly that the community recognize that we all need to pull together," he says. "This is a significant part of a young person’s life, being able to continue their education," says BU spokesman Colin Riley. "Any disruption to that causes a ripple effect."
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