National-Louis University Opening Classes, Dormitory to Students Displaced by Katrina

CHICAGO---National-Louis University officials announced today that they will admit any student already enrolled in an accredited university, college or community college within the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina and subsequent flooding.

Currently enrolled students from institutions closed by the disaster will remain students of record at their home campuses. National-Louis will also facilitate the application and admission of any student not currently enrolled but who may wish to take classes during the period they are displaced.

The university also has up to thirty beds in its dormitory in Evanston available to residential students who wish to enroll at the university. National-Louis will waive room and board charges for those students for the remainder of this academic year.

"Chicago has a close historical connection with Mississippi and Louisiana. Many families in our region may have relatives who have come to live here," said University President Richard J. Pappas. "We join with the city in opening our classes to students displaced by the catastrophe, to those who may be staying with relatives in the Chicago area, who may live near our campuses."

National-Louis has campuses in Chicago, Evanston, Lisle, Elgin, Wheeling, and Beloit and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Pappas added that the offer extends as well to classes at the university’s Florida and Washington, D.C. campuses.

"We will work intensively and quickly with these students to facilitate financial arrangements, the transfer of credits and prior tuition payments--basically we will have a team devoted to cutting through red tape," said Brisbane Rouzan, the university’s Ombudsman and a New Orleans native who also has been coordinating arrangements for his own displaced family, some of whom had to be rescued from their homes by helicopter.

National-Louis, founded in Chicago in 1886 as the National College of Education, has nationally renowned undergraduate programs in education, healthcare and human services, the liberal arts, and business.

"We want to help assure that students who have been displaced to our campus areas have the opportunity to continue their educations during this period when so much else in their lives may be interrupted," said National-Louis Chief Academic Officer Kathryn Tooredman. "Adults trying to complete an undergraduate degree especially cannot afford to lose time--and our graduate programs for professional educators, counselors, and business people will help bolster the skills of the community members who will be most instrumental in the rebuilding efforts when they return to their communities."

For more information on admission to National-Louis University, contact Brisbane Rouzan or Larry Polselli, Vice President for Enrollment at 1-888-NLU TODAY or through www.nl.edu.