Enrollment picking up at Catholic schools, universities in Gulf Coast

Published: 2007-08-16

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Two years after Hurricane Katrina, Catholic schools and colleges in the Gulf Coast region are recovering, but enrollment figures have still not been restored to what they were prior to the storm. At Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, which was severely damaged by floodwaters from the breached levees following Katrina, school officials anticipate for the 2007-08 school year an overall enrollment of 3,100 students, including students in the College of Pharmacy and graduate students. Enrollment is still about 75 percent of the pre-Katrina total of 4,100 students. Jesuit-run Loyola University in New Orleans, which was not physically damaged by the hurricane but was forced to close for the fall 2005 semester, did not have figures available for the 2007-08 school year, but has seen an overall loss in students since the hurricane. In the Archdiocese of New Orleans, the total Catholic school student population for the 2006-07 school year was 40,955. Pre-Katrina enrollment was approximately 49,000. In the Diocese of Biloxi, Miss., school enrollment figures have fluctuated since Hurricane Katrina. Prior to the storm, there were 4,117 students in the five high schools and 14 elementary schools in the diocese. At the end of the 2005-06 school year, students numbered 3,862.

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