SNHU Online Joins Sloan Consortium for Hurricane Relief
Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is one of the 160 regionally-accredited colleges
and universities that is partnering with the Sloan Consortium to offer free online courses for students who have been affected by Hurricane Katrina.
“We have all watched with horror and dismay the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf region. In typical SNHU fashion there has
been an immediate desire to help,” said Paul LeBlanc, President of Southern New Hampshire University. In addition to participating in the Sloan Semester program, SNHU will offer three School of Community Economic Development scholarships for relief agency workers seeking to
rebuild communities in the Gulf region and has already offered spots to undergraduate students from Tulane University.
The Sloan Consortium, an international association of colleges and universities committed to quality online education, is offering students
displaced by Hurricane Katrina an opportunity to continue their education at no cost. In collaboration with the Southern Regional Education
Board and with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the special accelerated program will provide a wide range of courses to serve the learning needs of students at the community college, university and graduate level, regardless of academic discipline. These courses will be given
by major universities and other Sloan Consortium members. Students interested in finding out more about the program and the free courses
should visit http://www.sloansemester.org/.
"We know that many colleges and universities in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi will not be able resume their fall semesters and students are scrambling for alternatives," said Dave Spence, President of the Southern Regional Education Board. "With the help of dozens of colleges and universities nationwide, we can now offer students key courses online to bridge them through this difficult time and eventually allow them to
return to their home campuses."
The 8 week accelerated semester is being funded by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (http://www.sloan.org/). Colleges and universities offering the courses will forgo tuition and fees to help students at institutions disrupted by Katrina. "Online learning can be an important means
of academic continuity in a time of crisis," said Frank Mayadas, Program Director, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. "We are getting a tremendous response from both those who want to offer courses and from impacted institutions that need the help." At this time, the goal is to accommodate
at least 10,000 student enrollments.
Southern New Hampshire University (http://www.snhu.edu/)
Southern New Hampshire University is a premier private with approximately 1,800 traditional, full-time undergraduate day students, and a total enrollment in all divisions (day, evening, weekend and online undergraduate and graduate students) of about 6,200. Programs are offered on campus, online and on location at our centers in New Hampshire and Maine. The university offers undergraduate programs in business, culinary arts, education, hospitality management and liberal arts and graduate programs in business, community economic development and education.
SNHU Online, one of the fastest growing online programs in New England, offers more than 30 accredited programs online.
The Southern Regional Education Board (http://www.sreb.org/) is the nation's first interstate compact for education based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Created in 1948 by Southern states, SREB helps government and education leaders work cooperatively to advance education and, in doing
so, to improve the social and economic life of the region. Included in its 16 member states are Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. SREB
is governed by a Board that consists of the governor of each member state and four people that he or she appoints, including at least one
state legislator and at least one educator. SREB is a nonprofit, nonpolitical organization. It is supported by appropriations from its member
states and by funds from private companies, foundations, and state and federal agencies.
The Sloan Consortium (http://www.sloan-c.org/) is the nation’s largest association of institutions and organizations committed to quality online
education and administered through Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering and Babson College. Its mission is to help learning organizations continually improve quality, scale, and breadth according to their own distinctive missions, so that education will become a part of everyday life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety of disciplines.