by Anna Hampton
Daily Lobo
Forty-eight students transferred to UNM to try to piece their lives back together after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina last fall.
Monique Fellows is rebuilding her life. Fellows was a student at the University of New Orleans and one of the 11 remaining evacuees still registered at UNM.
"Since I've been in New Mexico, I've had a really good job. I think I've received a better education," she said. "I've gotten better grades than I ever have in my college career, and I'm close to my family."
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Fellows first came to New Mexico for her mother's funeral on Sept. 8, 2005. Her mother, who was from Albuquerque, died six days earlier during the evacuation in New Orleans, Fellows said.
Fellows decided to attend UNM after hearing the University was accepting Katrina evacuees.
Terry Babbitt, director of admissions, helped coordinate many of the administrative decisions that allowed hurricane evacuees to transfer into UNM's departments with the least impact on their academic performance.
"As an institution, we really helped them because we gave them in-state tuition," he said. "We let them continue their degree seamlessly. We made a quick decision to help get them started without worrying about finances."
UNM's administration welcomed victims with open and willing arms, said Elysabeth Derby, an evacuee from Loyola University.
"They gave all of the hurricane evacuees free room and board and meals," Derby said.
She didn't take advantage of the UNM's room and board offer, because she stayed with her parents who live in Albuquerque.
She said UNM made the transition smooth and quick for those affected.
"The hurricane hit Monday. I was enrolled at UNM in classes by Wednesday," Derby said.
Almost all of the colleges at UNM allowed credits to be transferred from schools damaged by the disaster, Babbitt said.
Fellows, a psychology major, said she succeeded because of the University's initial help and the close relationship its professors strive to have with their students. However, UNM should have been clearer on its financial plan, she said.
"I'm kind of upset," she said. "I was told that they were going to make an exception. Initially, we didn't have to pay out of pocket. It seemed like UNM was willing to help the first semester, but then they were like, 'You're on your own.'"
Babbitt said the University was as helpful as possible.
"We accommodated students in a number of ways - letting them retain resident status when their financial aid ended," he said. "When you jump out of a degree program, then you jump back in, there could be complications."
The UNM campus and victims who chose to study at it will benefit from their experience, Babbitt said.
Despite the small number of students who chose to come to UNM, he said the disaster helped the UNM community come together and give the victims care after a traumatic event.
"I think the ones who have come to UNM have a really strong appreciation for our welcoming culture and our diversity," he said. "I really think they appreciate the warmness of our culture and our welcoming nature."
Although Derby said she will always call New Orleans her home, she has decided to stay at UNM, because Loyola is dropping her self-made majors in political science and anthropology.
She wants to continue studying in UNM's anthropology program, and she likes the larger class sizes, she said.
"I like UNM more in some respects," she said. "It's a little more challenging."
Fellows is eager to return to New Orleans, where she is applying for law school.
"New Orleans is like a party city," she said. "Here there's not a lot of night life."
That may also be another reason for the increase in her grades, she said.
"We're all just trying to get by," Derby said. "There's no handbook for what happens when your city is under 15 to 20 feet of water."
