Damages to Mississippi Colleges Estimated at $673 Million
JACKSON, Miss.
Hurricane Katrina will cost Mississippi’s community colleges and universities close to $700 million, the state College Board said.
Richard Crofts, commission of higher education, said that the most heavily damaged schools were in south Mississippi.
The University of Southern Mississippi may have to build a new campus on the coast, and Gulf Coast Community College, Pearl River Community College and William Carey College sustained heavy damage.
Croft said 5,000 to 10,000 college students have been displaced by the storm.
“Some of these students and families were adequately supported through financial aid and personal income before the storm. But they have seen everything they own destroyed,” he said. “How can a family even consider higher education when the home and job are both gone.”
