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Opinion
 

Staff Editorial

                Chris Elliott                        Zach Lee                  Christian Palmer
                Geronimo Rodriguez       Blake Whitaker       Kristen Young

Katrina aid distributed in a lopsided manner

When Hurricane Katrina left thousands of college students out in the rain, UH was one of the many universities who took them in. Congress set up a $10 million fund for colleges to offset the expense of the displaced students, and the results have been mixed. 

Some schools, like Princeton, which took in 28 displaced students who were aid-eligible, declined to request any money from the fund. Others, such as the University of San Francisco, decided not to seek money because most of its displaced students were not living in the affected areas before they started school.

UH is a less pleasant story. A UH Office of External Communication story reported the University estimated it lost at least $4 million in taking in the "Katrina Cougars." From the fund, it will receive the $150,000 it requested for the 930 students it enrolled--much less than it was eligible for. Meanwhile, heavily endowed Harvard asked for $500,000 for the 27 aid-eligible students it enrolled. It's only getting $35,064, but that's still nearly $1,300 more per student than UH received. Boston College and Boston University requested $4 and $5 million, respectively, for the total of 35 students they enrolled.

Provost Donald Foss said UH requested such a small amount because of a "clerical error" in how the government requested information.

In taking in so many students, University tried to do what's right, just as schools like San Francisco and Princeton, among many others, did when it came time to request funds. That's not the case with other schools, whose greed pushed them to ask for what others deserved more. According to the OEC report, that includes, at the very least, Harvard, BC, BU and American (American requested $500,000 for 11 students).

Some of that has to do with unclear guidelines as to which students are eligible to qualify a school for aid--clearly, the process was a bit muddled, and confusion could be a legitimate excuse in some schools' cases. But the remaining motivation must be greed--a disturbing reality, given the circumstances.