For Louisiana schools that have cancelled classes for the fall semester due to Hurricane Katrina, a new issue has arisen: whether or not to reimburse pre-paid tuitions. Many of the New Orleans schools intend to use the tuition money towards restoring and reopening their campuses, but university officials understand that some families cannot afford to part with such large sums of money, according to an article in The New York Times.

Other parents, most of whom have children attending other universities free of tuition, are happy to let Louisiana universities keep their money for rehabilitation purposes. Richard Fishbane, whose son attends Tulane University, told The Times he just hopes Tulane reopens soon, and since his son is attending Princeton University free of charge, he wants Tulane to keep his son's tuition money. Parents whose children are not attending universities for free are demanding refunds for services not rendered and are threatening lawsuits. Other families are struggling to pay a second tuition at another university, according to The Times.

Tulane and Loyola Universities have assured students who are paying second tuitions at host institutions that they will either receive credit or reimbursement in the spring semester. Dillard and Xavier Universities are unable to refund tuitions because they do not have access to their financial records. Because Dillard's campus is entirely flooded, the University may have lost its financial records altogether.

Host universities have offered individual tuition policies. Over 120 universities, including Harvard, Syracuse and Princeton, are waiving tuition for displaced students, according to The Times. Other schools are offering in-state tuitions to out-of-state students, and still others are delaying tuition payments until Louisiana schools reimburse their students. If students have not yet paid tuition to their Louisiana colleges, host institutions are charging their usual rates and transferring the money back to the those colleges.

The efforts of universities nation-wide to accommodate displaced students "gives new meaning to faith-based initiative," Glenn Altschuler, academic dean at Cornell University, told The Times. "We are taking on faith what students and parents tell us. We are taking on faith that things will work out with financial aid from the federal and state governments. And we are taking on faith that things will work out with our friends at Tulane and the other schools."