Hurricanes' Disruptions Kept 35,000 Students Out of College a Year Later, Report Says

This Chronicle of Higher Education article requires a subscription for access, however the report it is reporting on is available, from the Southern Education Foundation (SEF) here:

Some 35,000 college and university students from Louisiana and Mississippi did not return to their campuses last fall, a year after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck, or enroll in other colleges, because their lives were still too disrupted by widespread damage and government neglect, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Southern Education Foundation.

The report, "Education After Katrina: Time for a New Federal Response," found that nearly one out of every six students from public colleges and universities in Louisiana dropped out for the entire 2005-6 academic year after the hurricanes struck at the beginning of the fall semester, forcing the temporary closure of two dozen colleges and universities in the New Orleans area and five along Mississippi's Gulf Coast. For black students, the dropout rate in Louisiana was one out of five.