Another twist in the tuition tangle

Imagine shelling out top dollar for wheels the dealer couldn't deliver because the car lot washed away. Do you still have to make the monthly payments? What if competitors offered free loaners?

Such are the questions bedeviling scores of displaced Gulf Coast college students as they settle into a semester in exile. Hurricane Katrina destroyed their dorms, interrupted classes, and shuttered debris-choked campuses. It also unleashed a surge of concerns about financial aid -- starting with such basics as whether families must pay the home or host school.

Navigating the college money maze has never been easy. Try doing it twice, without access to receipts, records, and, at least initially, working phones or Internet access to affected universities in New Orleans.

Within days of the disaster, universities from New England to Israel opened their doors to ''visiting" Gulf area students, often for free or at in-state rates. Boston University, for instance, waived tuition for the 320 visiting Tulane students it enrolled for fall term, helped them find housing, and took evacuees shopping for such necessities as warm clothes. Other area schools -- including Boston College, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, Harvard, MIT, and Simmons -- have similarly welcomed evacuees.

Though securing a new academic perch was relatively easy, financing clearly remains the rub, judging from the expanding scroll of ''frequently asked questions" on university and US Department of Education websites. Can host institutions distribute Pell grants and other federal money? Must students repay loans or scholarships if they didn't enroll elsewhere? What if a student had already paid their tuition in full and now must pay the host school as well?

Answers vary from school to school, and from week to week. University of New Orleans officials say they can't advise students on financial-aid repayment because federal officials have yet to clarify the rules. Meanwhile, deadlines for enrolling, withdrawing, switching schools, and filing financial-aid forms keep shifting.

''I'm not sure I've ever been in this situation before," said Christine McGuire, Boston University's director of financial assistance. ''It's blurring the lines of where a student is attending." Unlike visiting scholar programs, which cover living expenses and stipends, she said, ''in the financial-aid world, your home institutions typically dispense funds." And the money gets meted out according to strict formulas and timetables.

That leaves financial-aid officers like McGuire extremely cautious about processing anything.

Case in point: Releasing federal funds to cover textbooks or other immediate needs could max out a student's grant and jeopardize spring term back home. Tutoring and other community programs could suffer as well, because the federal work-study money they rely on is being reallocated and could create shortfalls.

Then there are BU students from once-prosperous Gulf Coast homes whose shattered families and fortunes have created sudden financial needs. The lesson for parents: Fill out a free federal financial aid application, or FAFSA form, even if you don't believe you qualify for assistance, because disaster can strike, destroying records along with nest eggs.

''Unfortunately, there's no practice run of this," said Dr. Richard Whiteside, vice president for enrollment management and dean of admission at Tulane University.

Tulane's demand for full payment of fall-term tuition, while approved by a coalition of nine higher-education associations, riled some families. Ditto the pressure to return when the campus reopens in January, such as a message Tulane's law school sent out last month telling students to expect scant help with transfers. But as Whiteside noted, that was the only way to guarantee fairness with 13,000 students scattered among hundreds of host universities nationwide, some getting a free ride and others hit with a second tuition bill.

That came as a rude awakening to Tulane senior Ellen L. Fobes, 21, who uprooted to BU with little more than the flip-flops, four pairs of underwear, and jeans she had packed anticipating a long, fun weekend of evacuation in Memphis. ''I miss New Orleans. I love it -- it's been my home for four years," said the marketing major, whose parents had prepaid in full.

Still, Tulane's tuition demands have definitely struck a sour note. ''The university was there for my education," Fobes said. ''And what you realize is, it's a business."

Despite BU's generous tuition waiver, money has been tight. At $1,100 a month, Fobes is shelling out twice as much for a shared Kenmore Square apartment than she paid to rent a whole house in New Orleans. She has had to replace textbooks, furniture, and her wardrobe.

''I don't want to go begging," said Fobes, whose $2,000 federal disaster relief check didn't stretch to include a winter coat, let alone replace the car she lost in the flood. Now she must also resume paying rent in New Orleans. Whiteside said students will have any host tuition credited toward the winter session, and a condensed summer term will be free to those who paid for the full year. ''The concept is that no student will pay more than they expected to pay, and conversely, no student will benefit from Katrina," he said.

Tulane officials recently carted truckloads of student records from New Orleans to Houston, where officials will reassess each student's financial-aid needs based on the new situation. Of the 5,500 students clocked in so far, most of them undergraduates, three-quarters are now spread among 550 colleges. In addition, Tulane has set up a hot line and online message board to field questions.

Considering their hectic evacuation, many displaced students, like Loyola freshman Shannon True, 18, have enjoyed a remarkably hassle-free transition. The Worcester native had a hefty financial aid package and had spent just one day in her seventh-floor dorm room when the hurricane struck. After missing enrollment deadlines at some Massachusetts colleges, and dismissing others as too expensive, she landed at Simmons College, with free tuition and on-campus quarters.

''Everyone is so nice and helpful," she said, recalling the welcome basket of soap and shampoo, as well as assistance matching Simmons courses to those she was about to start at Loyola. ''It was so easy. It was harder for me to get out of Loyola than into Simmons. I just dove right in."

Resources

Federal rules allow financial-aid officers to respond to calamities such as hurricanes and recalculate assistance on a case-by-case basis.

Federal emergency aid for hurricane damage does not count as available income. Students from the disaster region qualify for loan forbearance, through which lenders can give the students a grace period for paying back loans. Meanwhile, the federal government and higher education community have raced to extend deadlines, clarify procedures, and determine what funds students can keep, who they still owe, and which school gets their tuition.

Most Gulf area colleges post frequent updates to commonly asked financial-aid questions on their temporary official websites. Several also have hot lines and message boards.

A list of affected schools, along with links to institutions offering tuition-free enrollment and other assistance, can be found at www.campusrelief.org/.

The US Department of Education has a host of Hurricane Katrina-related information on its financial aid site, www.ifap.ed.gov/. In addition, students and parents may call 1-800-4FEDAID with general questions, or e-mail KatrinaFSAhelp@ed.gov or RitaFSAhelp@ed.gov with hurricane-specific queries.

Other good resources include the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, www.nasfaa.org/linklists/katrina.html, and the Society for College and University Planning, www.scup.org/knowledge/katrina/.

Students who have lost records also may find their loans through the loan finder website, www.studentclearinghouse.org/secure_area/loan_locator.asp.

The recent hurricanes also hold lessons for those untouched by their torrents. Chief among them: Fill out the free federal financial-aid application available from the US Department of Education at www.ed.gov, even if you don't think you qualify for assistance. If disaster strikes, your information will be on file.

MARY LORD