Dozens of Arts and Media Students from the 'Class of Katrina' Decide to Call Columbia College Chicago Home ' For a While
Columbia Pitches in with Tuition Assistance, Room and Board for Displaced Undergrads
CHICAGO, IL - 'It was an easy decision,' explained Warrick L. Carter, president of Columbia College Chicago. 'There was a huge need and we didn't think twice about doing our part to help. We hope this effort will make it possible for the students involved to continue their education and that, upon returning to their home institutions, they will be able to graduate on time.'
So, several days before the Columbia fall term began, Carter got together with Mark Kelly, his vice president for student affairs and made the executive decision to offer full tuition, room and board to displaced students who were local to the area affected by hurricane Katrina.
Columbia would also work with Chicago-area students who had been planning on attending schools that were shut down, but who wished to return to live at home and attend school locally. These students would receive a fifty percent tuition reduction. Some fifty Columbia students who hail from the gulf coast area would be given tuition assistance ' and other special assistance ' on an as-needed basis.
Kelly explained that while students might want to take a break and stay with their families, that Columbia's doors were open and students could stay for up to a year under these terms. 'We expect that they will want to return to their 'home college' as soon as they can,' he said, 'but we're here for as long as they need us.'
Seven members of the admissions and student life staff were dedicated full time to counseling, registering and finding housing for the 'Class of Katrina' students. The college worked with other downtown Chicago institutions to secure housing for the displaced students. A number of faculty, staff and students came up with rooms.
As hundreds of colleges and universities across the country came forward with a range of assistance for displaced students, it became clear that Columbia, a school that specializes in undergraduate and graduate arts and media education, would fill a special niche.
'We recognize that we are not the natural choice for a third-year pre-med student,' said Murphy Monroe, executive director of admissions. 'While students pursuing degrees in advertising, film, dance, theater, journalism, design, interactive arts and media, or a dozen other areas, can make a fairly seamless transition to Columbia and back home again, we simply don't offer a degree in chemistry, math, history or psychology. If you're far enough along in one of the 'traditional' academic fields and have already fulfilled all of your core and general education requirements, Columbia would probably not be the best fit.
Fun and enriching, yes, but not the straightest line to your goal.'
So, while other local schools made space for future lawyers, doctors, accountants and engineers, Columbia this week welcomed a dozen actors and artists, four future filmmakers, seven marketing and communications students, three musicians, a dancer, a poet and a photographer, as well as several journalists and arts managers to the windy city. The details have all been worked out and more than forty new Columbia students are in class and learning.
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