Prometheus 6

“There was never a question we would help,” she said. “We are an HBCU. We knew we had to step up.”...

A total of 2,456 students have enrolled this fall at Southern University at New Orleans, compared with 3,500 before Katrina. At Xavier, enrollment for the current semester is 3,013, compared with 4,100 before the Katrina. And at Dillard, 1,100 enrolled this fall compared to 2,000 in 2005, according to Weaver’s report.

Study: HBCUs Took in a Third of Black College Students Displaced by Katrina
Date: Thursday, October 26, 2006
By: Sherrel Wheeler Stewart, BlackAmericaWeb.com

About one third of the 9,600 HBCU students displaced in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina found a higher education home at other historically black colleges and universities throughout the country, according to a new study by Atlanta researcher Mike Weaver.

In many cases, it meant that the HBCUs accepted the students without the benefit of their financial aid because they had already paid to attend their home institutions, Weaver told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

“If it weren’t for HBCUs, many of the students who were displaced by Katrina may not have gone to school at all,” Weaver said. “We are our brothers' and sisters' keeper. That is what HBCUs have done traditionally. Hurricane Katrina brought out the best in HBCUs.”

A total of 67 HBCUs received students who fled from Dillard, Xavier and Southern University New Orleans. Southern University in Baton Rouge took in the largest number at 960, followed by Texas Southern which took in 600 students.