Students from New Orleans want to stay

(Correction: Because of editing errors, a photo caption for a Page One story yesterday about students from New Orleans who want to remain in area colleges had the wrong day for the visit from Tulane University's president at Boston University. He spoke at the university on Thursday. In addition, a reference to the event in the story said a video lasted for more than an hour. The entire presentation, not the video, lasted more than an hour.)

The warm welcome that area colleges extended to students displaced by Hurricane Katrina has cooled for those who want to remain after their universities in New Orleans reopen.

Thousands of students have yet to re-enroll in Louisiana, threatening the already troubled finances of those schools and posing a diplomatic headache for host colleges, most of which agreed to take the students for just one semester.

Among the New Orleans colleges reporting a decrease for spring semester are Tulane University, which has re-enrolled 86 percent of the undergraduates who registered for the fall. Others are struggling more: Loyola University New Orleans said 74 percent of its undergraduates will come back; Xavier University of Louisiana reported that 75 percent plan to return.

It is unclear how many of the thousands nationwide who have not committed to returning are trying to stay at their temporary academic refuges, but some Boston-area colleges -- including Boston College, Boston University, and Harvard -- say some students have asked to transfer.

Those requests are forcing colleges to choose between accommodating the students' desires and affecting the well-being of other institutions. In addition, eight national higher-education associations signed an agreement after Katrina urging their membership to ''admit students only on a visiting or provisional basis, so that they remain students of their home institution." Among the groups was the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, which counts Harvard, MIT, Northeastern, and Tufts as members.

The Louisiana colleges say the financial impact of enrollment declines will be known in January, when final numbers are tabulated. Meanwhile, the schools are grappling with major losses, with Tulane having more than $100 million in damage. A spokesman said the university has laid off 243 full-time staff members and 2,381 part-time employees, including part-time faculty, part-time staff, and student workers.

Seeking to stanch losses, New Orleans college presidents and faculty have been touring the country, hosting pep rally-like forums in cities, including New York and Boston, with concentrated numbers of Katrina-displaced students in an effort to assure them and alumni that their schools will be restored and that New Orleans is safe.

''I can't wait to get you back in January!" Tulane President Scott Cowan told a cheering crowd Thursday afternoon at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center. The event began with an hour-plus video presentation showing the moss-covered trees and moonlit bayous in New Orleans.

Cowan said the school had gutted the first floors of all water-damaged buildings, and that the quality of air and water in New Orleans -- historically problems for the city -- is better than before Katrina descended. The city also is known for its high crime rate. Cowan said there has been one homicide since August.

''New Orleans is now the safest city in America," he said in an interview.

The press to re-recruit students comes against the backdrop of potential financial repercussions. Tulane, with a tuition rate of nearly $33,000, could lose tens of millions in revenue should 14 percent -- or about 1,120 -- of its displaced students not return.

Tulane officials noted, however, that the school traditionally sees some attrition in the spring semester. The officials declined to predict how much would be lost, saying the figure is difficult to calculate because the university gives some students scholarships -- money the school will keep if they don't return.

A dozen displaced students at Boston College have requested transfers, and Boston University has fielded three such requests from Tulane students. Six students enrolled at Harvard College want to stay on and will hold a rally, hosted by the school's student government, tomorrow to make their point.

Adam Nikolich, 18, a Tulane freshman, is among the six petitioning to remain at Harvard College.

''I find it somewhat hard to believe that Tulane is in as good condition as they say it is," he said, noting that he had remained in New Orleans a week after Katrina hit and witnessed the destruction. ''Even if the campus is OK, I don't want to go back to New Orleans. I don't think it's a safe or healthy place to be right now."

Moreover, he said, Harvard -- where he has studied economics and joined the crew team -- feels like home. ''I feel like I really fit in," he said.

Harvard College spokesman Robert Mitchell said the school has ruled that Nikolich and the 34 other Katrina-displaced students will not be allowed to stay, citing a policy that bars all visiting students from transferring while enrolled at Harvard.

''It would set a precedent that would not be appropriate at this time," Mitchell said.

Transfer applications from Tulane students are being evaluated, said Colin Riley, a Boston University spokesman, but ''our expectation is that the Tulane students were visiting students and we had every expectation that they would return to Tulane."

Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn said Katrina-displaced students would not be permitted to transfer. They were given the status of visiting students, and ''implicit in that was an understanding that they would return to their schools when they reopened," he said.

''We explained that we accepted them as a good-will gesture," Dunn said. ''Their tuition dollars stayed in New Orleans because we didn't want to hurt these schools that had enough to deal with. Now we have told them that we want them to return to their host schools where they are needed."

New Orleans school administrators found themselves in the unfamiliar position of having to sell a one-time asset, the Crescent City itself.

''The number-one concern that we hear is about the condition of the city," said Debbie Stieffel, the dean of admissions and enrollment management at Loyola. ''A lot of parents, all they see is how horrible the city looks, and we are here to say there are many areas of the city that don't look like that."

For some students, no convincing has been needed. David Brownstein, 19, a business major, has been attending Brandeis University this semester and is eager to return to New Orleans.

''Brandeis has been a good place to take classes, but I've had my heart set on Tulane," he said. ''I'm very excited to get back."