December 6, 2005

Dear NCSDCC Member:

Students in Louisiana and Mississippi whose lives and educations were disrupted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita may now apply for up to $1,000 in financial assistance thanks to a $2 million grant awarded this week to the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) by Lumina Foundation for Education.  The funds are available to both full- and part-time community and technical college students from the disaster-designated areas, including those who have relocated to other states and are attending other colleges.  Information on how to apply is available via the AACC Website at www.aacc.nche.edu.  An additional $1 million is available to students at four-year institutions in the disaster-designated areas.

Lumina’s generous support brings new hope to thousands of students who are trying to continue their education under the most difficult circumstances.  We know this is a busy time of year and that everyone is thinking about holiday plans.  We also know about students who still have no place to live.  We have heard about faculty with small children who lost their home and everything in it and are now living in trailers.  Insurance payments and FEMA will not be sufficient to make their holidays bright as many of ours will be.  AACC hopes this funding will inspire and challenge others to step forward to help not only the estimated 30,000 community college students affected by the disaster, but also the thousands of faculty and staff who are struggling to rebuild their campuses, their homes and their lives.  The AACC Disaster Relief Fund continues to accept funds on their behalf and urges your generous support. 

The National Council of State Directors of Community Colleges is an affiliated council of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC).  The council provides a forum for the exchange of information about developments, trends, and problems in state systems of community colleges.  

Through our affiliation with AACC, we also strive to affect national legislation that impacts our colleges and state agencies.

This is the only Council that represents the collective interest of state agencies and state boards of community colleges.  This council is a valuable forum to help state directors deal with the changes in attitude and policies towards community colleges at the international, federal, state and local levels.  We will share information and learn lessons from each other to better serve the interests of our institutions in the coming years.

Detailed Information