With recovery at a crawl, Georgia colleges open doors to displaced Puerto Rican students

Three months after two powerful hurricanes rocked the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico in September, the island still is facing an agonizingly slow crawl back to normalcy. The power grid was devastated by the hurricanes, particularly Hurricane Maria, and more than a third of the island remains without power, according to the Associated Press. Rugged mountains and isolated villages have been hit especially hard, and spotty communication can make logistical planning extremely difficult.

Some of the hardest hit by the storm have been students. More than 1,000 schools remain closed on the island, and some teachers are reporting to work in empty classrooms, the Washington Post reported.

Now, some Georgia colleges will be opening their doors to some Puerto Rican students so they can continue their studies uninterrupted while the island works toward recovery. The Georgia Independent College Association, which represents many private schools in the state, announced last week 10 member schools would accept some Puerto Rican students who were attending private colleges on the island.

“This partnership means that Puerto Rico’s private college students will not suffer a delay in their studies,” said GICA President Susanna Baxter in a press release. “Our sister institutions in Puerto Rico will also receive the tuition needed to make payroll and make repairs. This is a small way we can help our fellow citizens during this rebuilding period.”

The participating colleges include Agnes Scott College, Berry College, Brewton-Parker College, Covenant College, LaGrange College, Oglethorpe University, Toccoa Falls College, Truett McConnell University, Wesleyan College and Young Harris College. Some other private Georgia schools, like Emory, also have made arrangements to accept Puerto Rican students

“It’s all been very difficult to put together because of the enormous communication problems Puerto Rico is still having,” Baxter told WABE. “So, we’ve done a lot of this with texting back and forth, and one phone call, and a few emails.”

Students still will need to pay tuition, which will go back to their home institutions, and will need to pay for their own room, board, and transportation to the U.S., reported WABE. But they will receive some extra counseling to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible, Baxter said.

“They’ll be treated like all students, but also with some extra counseling offered to them, and other services, like, ‘How do you procure winter clothes?’ and those types of things that we will need to provide,” she told the station.

“Hurricane María’s wrath has been life-changing, and it has taken away many of our students’ income, jobs, and personal property, but it cannot take away their passion project: to continue studying,” said Carmen Cividanes-Lago, adviser to the Association of Private Colleges and Universities of Puerto Rico in a press release. “We are ever so grateful that our students have been offered help during this very difficult time and that they will be able to pursue education for a semester in Georgia. Thank you, Georgia!”

This story was originally published December 17, 2017 at 7:44 AM with the headline "With recovery at a crawl, Georgia colleges open doors to displaced Puerto Rican students."