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When Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in late August, many residents of Louisiana and Mississippi were forced to relocate to cities across the country while the region endures a lengthy rebuilding process.

In addition to residents who lost their homes and businesses to hurricane and flood damage, many colleges and universities in the region were left in a state of disrepair, unable to accept students for the approaching school year.

UCLA is one of several universities that agreed to accept students who were displaced by the Category 5 storm. As the new school year begins, 84 students who had planned to attend classes in Louisiana have instead enrolled in UCLA. Fifty-five of them are undergraduates and 29 are graduate or professional-school students.

Julie Jaskol, a spokeswoman for UCLA Extension, said some of the students had just arrived at school in Louisiana when they were forced to turn around and leave.

Some, she said, “hadn’t even unpacked their cars yet when they arrived at school.”

A majority of these honorary Bruins come from Tulane University, Xavier University and the University of New Orleans.

In order to sign up for fall quarter classes, the students enrolled through the Concurrent Enrollment Program, which is administered by UCLA Extension. Enrollment was opened to all classes and enrollment fees were waived.

Of the students, 30 accepted offers to live in on-campus housing. These students signed nine-month contracts with the understanding that they could be cancelled with no fees after fall quarter ends, because many expect to return to their original school after a quarter, said Robert Smith, UCLA Housing assignment manager.

This arrangement is not exclusive to UCLA – every University of California campus “offered accommodation” to students impacted by the hurricane, and a total of 497 offers were extended by the UC, said Ravi Poorsina, a spokeswoman for the UC Office of the President.

She said the process has not been seamless, but the university has been doing the best job possible to accommodate the students.

“It’s definitely a challenge, but it’s just one of those situations where the UC is just doing what it can to help,” Poosina said.

Both at the individual-campus and system-wide level, UC officials have maintained a common attitude: Hurricane-affected students will be accommodated immediately, and details will be worked out later.

After Katrina hit the Gulf Coast region, the UC became part of an association of universities that reached out to affected students and offered accommodation, Poorsina said.

At UCLA, as part of an initial gesture of support, the Undergraduate Students Association Council presented hurricane-affected students with $100 gift certificates to Ackerman Union during a Student Affairs orientation event, said Eric Rollerson, assistant director of the Office of Residential Life.

Among the accommodations made by government agencies, the Department of Education has extended the filing date for hurricane-affected students to apply for federal student aid.

With reports from Derek Lipkin and Sara Taylor, Bruin senior staff.