College students in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands whose studies have been halted by the recent hurricanes are being offered an educational lifeline by New Jersey City University. 
 
 The state college in Jersey City is offering those students tuition-free study this semester and a chance to continue attending NJCU free in the spring with scholarship funds. NJCU also will provide students with a housing scholarship of $2,000 per semester. 
 
 Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are struggling to recover after the Caribbean islands were slammed by hurricanes Maria and Irma last month. Much of Puerto Rico is still without power. 
 
 "The NJCU community is supplementing its efforts to provide material resources to those in need by extending to students in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands the opportunity to move forward with their higher education and prepare for careers that will help to rebuild their lives and their homelands," NJCU President Sue Henderson said. 
 
 "We welcome students to NJCU from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands who are in need because of the unimaginable devastation caused by hurricanes. ... This initiative is in keeping with our University's mission." 
 
 For information about this study opportunity contact NJCU Director of Admissions Jose Balda at jbalda@njcu.edu or call 201-200-3381. 

 Tulane University in New Orleans announced on Friday that it will offer one semester of free tuition to students from universities and colleges in Puerto Rico. Tulane will accept applications for the limited number of Spring semester seats until November 1st. 
 
 Students will still be required to pay tuition to their home institutions, many of which face serious obstacles to re-opening by Spring. Large portions of the U.S. territory are still without electricity and clean water. 
 
 Tulane will, as the announcement put it, truly be ‘paying it forward.’ The university closed for four months in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and universities around the U.S. took in Tulane students on short notice. 
 
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 Several other colleges and universities, including the University of Arkansas and several in Florida, have offered in-state tuition to Puerto Rican students. But Tulane’s arrangement could be more beneficial for Puerto Rican universities as they work to rebuild. 
 
 However, Tulane’s offer also highlights the island’s grim long-term prospects after Hurricane Maria. With a battered economy and unmanageable public debt, Puerto Rico was already experiencing significant population drain to the mainland before the storm. With recovery from Maria expected to take years, that flow is likely to intensify. Educated workers and professionals are the most likely to leave, potentially setting the island’s economy on an even steeper downward spiral. 

 South Florida colleges are offering in-state tuition or discounts to students in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico and the Caribbean islands. 
 
 Roughly 258,000 undergraduates are enrolled in higher education in Puerto Rico, which is coping with a damaged power grid, damaged dams, bridges and roads and razed homes and businesses. Power is not likely to be fully restored for months. 
 
 Gov. Rick Scott this week asked public colleges and universities to offer in-state tuition. In South Florida, Palm Beach State, Broward and Miami-Dade colleges made the move. 
 
 Marielena DeSanctis, vice president of student affairs at Broward College, said students who fall behind on coursework — particularly following devastating natural disasters — sometimes react by giving up entirely. 
 
 “I may not be able to solve their housing crisis or their food crisis. I can’t bring back the pictures they’ve lost,” she said. “But hopefully I can give them something they’ll keep forever and that’s their education.” 
 
 Students who come to Broward College will be linked with Hispanic Unity, a social services organization, to find housing, child care, access to food and other staples. 
 
 Miami-Dade and Palm Beach State colleges are extending their offer to U.S. Virgin Island students. 
 
 Palm Beach also announced it will take Texas students displaced by Hurricane Harvey and will consider out-of-state tuition waivers for students moving here because their homes were struck by natural disasters. 
 
 Nearly 20 students have already contacted Miami-Dade College with plans to transfer, said Lenore Rodicio, executive vice president and provost. 
 
 “In order to get their lives back in order, education is a big one,” she said. “If it’s going to be some time before their higher education institution can receive them again. This is one way to get back into routine, and get some semblance of normalcy.” 
 
 Florida Atlantic University will waive out-of-state tuition fees this school year for current students whose permanent address is in Puerto Rico. And St. Thomas University said it will offer free room and board on a first-come, first-serve basis to 100 college students in Puerto Rico and affected Caribbean islands. 
 
 Florida International University will also waive out-of-state tuition fees for current students from Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands who have been impacted by the hurricane. 
 
 Students eligible for enrollment who move here because of the hurricanes can apply for out-of-state tuition fee waivers once they are admitted. 
 
 First-year Miami-Dade student Jose Aybar said Hurricane Maria left several of his cousins in Puerto Rico in limbo. He is going to encourage them to join him to keep up with their studies. 
 
 “It’s like somebody hit the pause button and you don’t know when you’re going to be able to continue what you’re doing,” he said. “Everything you have is wiped away.” 
 
 Getting the message out to the students is in Puerto Rico is a struggle since the island has no power and so many are displaced. 
 
 Broward College will run print newspaper ads in Puerto Rico and rely on families here to spread the word to their relatives. Miami Dade College, although also relying on word of mouth, is working with Puerto Rico’s deputy secretary of state to spread the word. 
 
 cmcglade@sun-sentinel.com, 954-356-4528 or Twitter @caitmcglade 

 Mainland Colleges Offer In-State Tuition To Students Affected By Hurricane Maria 
 
 Enlarge this image LA Johnson/NPR LA Johnson/NPR 
 
 Some universities on the U.S. mainland are offering assistance to students in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean affected by Hurricane Maria. Several schools have gone as far as waiving tuition, others have offered reduced tuition by granting in-state status. 
 
 Eighteen-year-old Mariela Serrano arrived in Miami to attend Florida International University a month before Hurricane Maria devastated her home in Puerto Rico. Then, FIU announced it would give students from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in-state tuition, extending the offer to current students like Serrano. 
 
 After the category four hurricane hit Puerto Rico, Serrano says it took weeks before she could hear her mother's voice. All the while, having to keep up with school work and exams. 
 
 "I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't sleep," she says. "The only thing I could think of was my family's well being." 
 
 Serrano was relieved when she finally heard from her mother, but because she hasn't had electricity or water, her business has been devastated — she's a dentist. 
 
 "I have no family here," Serrano says. "I am [financially] dependent on my mother." 
 
 With FIU's refund, she says she was able to send about $4,000 back home and she also began working at FIU strong, a hotline for students in the Caribbean affected by the hurricane. 
 
 New York In-State Tuition For The 2017-2018 Academic School Year SUNY (state) $8,310 
 
 SUNY (community) $5,240 
 
 CUNY (state) $6,530 
 
 CUNY (community) $4,800 
 
 About 200 students have already registered for a fall semester at FIU, says Maydel Santana, a university spokesperson. Santana says the university decided to extend in-state tuition to current students, too, because of hardships at home. 
 
 "It's important that these students don't stall and that they continue their education," she says. 
 
 In New Orleans, the University of Tulane announced last week it would offer one free semester for Puerto Rican students as a way of "paying it forward," after Tulane's students were taken in at other schools after Hurricane Katrina. Tulane will accept applications for the spring semester until Nov. 1. After the first semester, though, tuition and fees for one academic year are around $53,000. 
 
 Other schools offering tuition assistance are: 64 campuses of the State University of New York, 17 Connecticut State Colleges & Universities, five state and six community colleges in Florida and also the University of Arkansas. 
 
 New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo requested SUNY and City University of New York allow students from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to continue their college education at the in-state tuition rate. 
 
 "This action will alleviate a huge burden for these families as they try to repair and rebuild their lives," Gov. Cuomo said in a statement, adding "New York will continue to ensure the bright light of opportunity shines on everyone." 
 
 SUNY announced it would follow the governor's request and CUNY board members will vote Monday on a resolution to allow those students to receive in-state tuition for the 2017-2018 academic year. 
 
 Governor of Florida, Rick Scott, asked the same of his state. 
 
 Universities Waving Tuition University of Tulane One free semester for Spring 2018 University of Florida Free UF Online classes from Spring 2018 through Summer 2018 
 
 UF Online tuition and fees are $3,876 per year 
 
 UF in-state tuition is $6,380 per year 
 
 State colleges in Florida offering in-state tuition include the University of Florida, University of South Florida, Florida State University, University of Central Florida and Florida International University. Community Colleges in the state have also jumped on board, including: Miami Dade College, Broward College, St. Petersburg College, Valencia College and Seminole State College. 
 
 Broward College in Miami and Hillsborough Community College in Tampa have also extended in-state tuition to students affected by Hurricane Harvey in Texas. 
 
 Florida State University's law school has offered an exchange status for five law students from Puerto Rico. That status means the students pay tuition to their home institution rather than the visiting school. Those students will attend FSU Law school tuition free for the Fall semester. 
 
 Undergraduate students from Puerto Rico can also receive in-state tuition at FSU. 
 
 "FSU is providing a scholarship that will cover out-of-state tuition fees," says FSU spokesperson Susan Hansen. "This scholarship is also offered to citizens from other Caribbean countries that were severely impacted, including the Dominican Republic, St. Maarten and Barbuda." 
 
 University of Florida is also giving 1,000 students access to online courses for the next two semesters at no charge, says UF spokesperson Steve Orlando. 
 
 Once those semesters are completed, those students can decide to transfer to UF's campus and continue to pay UF's Online tuition. 
 
 The application date to apply for UF has also been extended to Nov. 15 because much of the island still has no power, making it difficult for students to send in applications and transcripts. 
 
 Miami Dade College is also delaying transcript requirements for students, says spokesperson Juan Mendieta. 
 
 "The important thing is that they enroll," he says. "We're gonna continue this program for Puerto Rican students until the island is back on its feet." 
 
 Students can also obtain in-state status through families, says Valencia College spokesperson Linda Beaty. She says the community college is being flexible in delayed transcripts. "It may be impossible to expect them to come up with an official transcript in a month or two," she says. 
 
 Additional Help Miami Dade College asks that students from Puerto Rico who were displaced by Hurricane Maria to call 305-237-8888. Florida International University has created a help line for students, 305-348-3481, and a website to help answer questions. To apply for UF Online courses and for more information, go to https://registrar.ufl.edu/displaced-students 
 
 "We're anticipating the bulk of them starting in Spring," Beaty says, talking about prospective students. "In the summer, we will be able to determine if there is an ongoing need that the college can continue to support by extending the in-state tuition offer."
– Mainland US universities are offering a helping hand to students in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands affected by Hurricane Maria. Some schools are granting students discounted tuition at the rate for in-state residents; others are waiving tuition altogether for a semester, NPR reports. Tuition help is being offered to displaced students at 64 state universities in New York, 17 in Connecticut, and schools in several other states. In Florida, a few public universities have heeded Gov. Rick Scott's call last week to offer the in-state rate to Maria victims. "I may not be able to solve their housing crisis or their food crisis," Marielena DeSanctis, a VP at Broward College, tells the Sun Sentinel. "But hopefully I can give them something they'll keep forever, and that's their education." In New Jersey, NJ City University is offering a tuition-free semester with the chance to extend to the spring semester with scholarships, per the Jersey Journal. The school in Jersey City is also offering a $2,000 housing grant for each semester to help students "who are in need because of the unimaginable devastation caused by hurricanes," says President Sue Henderson. In New Orleans, Tulane University, which closed for four months after Hurricane Katrina, will waive tuition for the spring semester for a select number of displaced students, though they'll be required to pay tuition to their colleges back home, per Fortune. An 18-year-old Florida International University freshman tells NPR the in-state discount allowed her to send $4,000 in refunded tuition home to her devastated family in Puerto Rico. (Experimental balloons help restore internet service in Puerto Rico.)