US university offers free term to students left homeless by Hurricane Dorian in Bahamas

‘Hampton has been the educational choice for many Bahamians over its long history,’ says former Hampston student body president from Nassau

A historically black university in Virginia is offering a free term of education to Bahamian students displaced by Hurricane Dorian.

Hampton University announced on Thursday an agreement to help the University of the Bahamas-North, which serves students from the battered islands of Grand Bahama and Abaco Islands.

Under the plan, students from the Bahamas will be able to attend Hampton this autumn without charge for tuition, room and board.

The main University of the Bahamas campus in Nassau reopened on Thursday.

But the Grand Bahama campus “sustained severe flooding and devastating storm damage”, the school said in an appeal for donations online.

“I think this agreement is something that can be helpful to a great number of students and families, and is part of something I’ve tried to do my entire career – helping people to achieve and meet their goals,” William R Harvey, president of Hampton, said.

The leaders of the two schools have a personal connection. Before becoming president of the University of the Bahamas, Rodney Smith was an administrator at Hampton.

Mr Harvey said displaced Bahamian students would be welcome to stay at Hampton after the autumn term, but they would be charged the university’s regular rates for tuition and fees.

Ordinarily, tuition and fees for a full school year at Hampton would be about $28,000 (£22,790), not including room and board. The university had about 4,300 students as of last autumn.

“Hampton has been the educational choice for many Bahamians over its long history,” Lawrence Rigby, a former Hampton student body president, who is from Nassau, said.

“Young Bahamians from Abaco and Grand Bahama who are looking for the tools to rebuild their lives and our home will find them at Hampton.”

The Washington Post