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Minnesota College Students Displaced by Hurricane Katrina Get Financial Aid Waiver

Archive

9/16/2005


 

Contact:
Sandy Connolly
Minnesota Office of Higher Education
(651) 259-3902

Minnesota residents enrolled in colleges and universities that were closed due to hurricane Katrina and subsequent flooding can qualify for Minnesota's largest financial aid program, according to an announcement by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. The agency will waive its requirement that eligible students must be pursuing a degree at a Minnesota institution. The policy modification mirrors a similar waiver granted since the disaster by the U.S. Department of Education for federal aid and applies only to students displaced by the recent natural disaster.

"The number of Minnesota residents attending colleges ravaged by Katrina are few," said Susan Heegaard, Director of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. "But for those few, their lives have been turned upside down. Minnesota wants to encourage those students to attend public and private higher education institutions here. Whether they stay until their home institutions re-open, or decide to transfer permanently to a Minnesota school, we want them to know that their home state welcomes them."

The waiver applies to Minnesota's State Grant program, which awards need-based grants to approximately 70,000 Minnesota students attending Minnesota colleges, universities and career schools annually.

Minnesota residents enrolled at an institution closed as a result of the hurricane should contact the financial aid office at the Minnesota college or university they wish to attend for more information.

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