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brief report on hurricane Harvey affecting higher ed - clep3705 - 09-19-2017
I have a few, brief stories about hurricane Harvey. These stories are compiled directly from affected administrators and students. Some come from official school websites.
Houston Community College, one of the largest community colleges in the United States, took a very simple and student friendly approach. The fall semester was scheduled to begin on Monday after the hurricane hit. They changed the start date of the fall semester by a week or two, don't remember which. With the later start, they also reopened registration.
The University of Texas Health Science center coordinated with volunteers, of which Houston was blessed to have so many, and sent them to the homes of flooded students. Their nursing school did officially start the Monday after the storm hit, but everything was rescheduled and the semester functionally started a week later. The University of Houston started before the hurricane, but was compassionate in reworking schedules after the flooding.
It's easy to understand local schools making adjustments to a very widespread natural disaster. So did others. I personally know one Big 3 student in Houston who was affected by the storm and fell behind. The school worked with him and made a very generous and compassionate accommodation.
My hunch is that those who were accommodated by their schools will become very loyal alumni.