By LOREN NEWMAN

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, 38 students were offered admission to Stanford. All 38 — 12 graduates and 26 undergraduates — accepted the offer to study at Stanford during the 2005 fall quarter, including three freshmen, seven sophomores, eight juniors and eight seniors from eight states and Mexico. However, the University is not planning to offer an extended acceptance program. All students were obliged to return to their previous universities at the conclusion of the fall quarter regardless of their school’s condition.

Initially, Stanford announced that it would not be accepting any Katrina transfers, but a few days later — possibly after witnessing the establishment of similar programs at rival schools — administrators decided to admit academically qualified students from affected universities along the Gulf Coast. After an accelerated admissions process, the admitted applicants came from the battered Gulf Coast schools of Tulane, Xavier, Dillard and Loyola, some even leaving the day after being admitted. Almost half of the guest students are from California, but five are from Louisiana. Stanford even offered to pay the tuition of admitted students and waived the mandatory New Student Orientation fee.

“Students admitted through the autumn quarter guest program were offered enrollment for one quarter so that they could continue their studies until their universities and colleges were functioning again,” said Vice Provost for Student Affairs Greg Boardman. “All the universities that were affected by Hurricane Katrina have announced that they will reopen in January.”

The schools affected by the hurricane are in various states of readiness for students.

“The school I’m returning to, Xavier University, is a work in progress,” said sophomore Megan Minor. “It’s definitely not the same place I left in August, but it will be better when it’s finished.”

At Loyola, classes began as scheduled on Jan. 9. However, at Dillard, students are still in the process of picking through flooded dormitories until Jan. 20. According to a recent press release, Tulane announced that as of yesterday, the University was open to 86 percent of students who attended classes pre-Katrina — a figure that is admittedly impressive only a few months after the storm. But what of those 14 percent who are left out?

Despite the limited offer of one quarter only, some students, like Minor, have been admitted through the standard transfer application process for the fall of 2006.

“Guest students are welcome to apply for transfer status through the usual admission process,” Boardman said. “If admitted, students would be offered admission for fall 2006.”

“If I could have stayed and finished these next two quarters, I would have. But I’ve returned to New Orleans,” Minor said. “[The Stanford administration] has been wonderful and very supportive. They treated us like their own students. It was like studying abroad for a semester.”

Minor said she plans to be in contact with her new friends and professors until she returns as a transfer in the fall of 2006.

“I’ll definitely keep in touch,” Minor said. “I’ve made a lot of friends and enjoyed classes with many of the professors. I want to thank all the students I had the pleasure of coming in contact with, and thanks to all for making this life-changing transition a little smoother. Stanford for me was a wonderful experience; it was definitely different from what I’m used to, but worthwhile.”