Schools affected by Hurricane Rita now eligible for grants to assist students
USA Funds adds $1.3 million to hurricane-relief fund for college students
INDIANAPOLIS — USA Funds®, the nation’s leading education-loan guarantor, has announced an additional $1.3-million financial commitment to assist low-income college students affected by recent hurricanes. USA Funds’ board of trustees approved the additional funding to supplement USA Funds’ initial commitment of $1 million to the Disaster Relief Fund for Postsecondary Education Students.
“This grant will provide assistance to additional students whose college plans have been disrupted and who are at risk of dropping out of school because of hurricanes Katrina and Rita,” said William R. Neale, chairman of USA Funds’ board of trustees. “In authorizing this additional funding, our goal is to help more of these students stay in school and complete their studies.”
USA Funds’ financial support will provide assistance to low-income students attending schools in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas counties designated as federal disaster areas by the Federal Emergency Management Agency following hurricanes Dennis, Katrina and Rita.
In addition, assistance will be provided to low-income students displaced from colleges in the Hurricane Katrina disaster areas and to residents of those disaster areas who are attending college elsewhere.
Awards of up to $35,000 may be made to eligible postsecondary institutions that apply. Financial-aid offices at institutions awarded grants will distribute the funds to eligible students affected by the hurricanes to supplement the students’ financial-aid packages.
For additional information about the program and to apply for a grant, campus financial-aid administrators should visit the fund’s Web site. Scholarship America, the nation’s largest nonprofit, private-sector scholarship and educational-support organization, administers the Disaster Relief Fund for Postsecondary Education Students. Organizations that wish to donate to the fund can learn more by visiting the Scholarship America Web site.