Contact: Ann Hatch
214-378-1819; ahatch@dcccd.edu
For immediate release — Aug. 31, 2017
(DALLAS) — As more evacuees from Hurricane Harvey arrive in the Dallas area, the Dallas County Community College District welcomes students from the Texas Gulf Coast disaster area who would like to enroll in classes at any of DCCCD’s seven colleges.
Although a number of classes have already started for the fall semester, Hurricane Harvey students can enroll in flex classes that will start during the next few weeks, or they can register for spring 2018 courses this November.
“The lives and future of so many Gulf Coast residents in Texas have been totally disrupted, and we want to help college students who are concerned moving forward with school and classes,” said Dr. Joe May, DCCCD’s chancellor. “The Dallas County Community College District family will assist Hurricane Harvey students with classes and financial aid while they are in the Dallas area.”
Interested Hurricane Harvey college students can visit any DCCCD college — Brookhaven, Cedar Valley, Eastfield, El Centro, Mountain View, North Lake and Richland — or they can sign up for classes through Dallas Colleges Online, the district’s virtual campus.
Students who need help paying for tuition will be referred to the district’s financial aid office. DCCCD financial aid administrators will work with those students regarding their federal financial aid or through other sources for financial assistance so that they can enroll in flex classes that start later this semester or in courses for the spring 2018 semester. Registration for spring starts Nov. 20.
Requests for financial aid assistance from Hurricane Harvey students enrolling at a DCCCD college will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
When Hurricane Harvey students visit a DCCCD college to enroll in a class, they will be asked to:
- Complete an online admissions application.
- Self-identify as a Hurricane Harvey evacuee.
- Provide information about financial aid they are receiving at another college or university.
- Fill out either the exemption request form for the state’s mandatory meningitis vaccine or a DCCCD form that will ask them information about their meningitis vaccine and “home school” where they already have submitted the required paperwork.
If Hurricane Harvey students plan to enroll in classes for spring 2018, they will need to provide official transcripts from other colleges at that time, added Mays. If they enroll in flex classes for the fall 2017 semester, they can share online “unofficial” transcripts with an advisor to help determine class placement.
The Texas Association of Community Colleges is sharing hurricane information about affected community colleges; for details, visit tacc.org/pages/hurricane-info.
For more information, visit DCCCD’s “Helping Our Texas Neighbors” webpage at dcccd.edu/HarveyHelp or call Anna Mays, associate vice chancellor for educational policy and student success, at amays@dcccd.edu or at 214-378-1733.
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