Dive Brief:

• Students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who suffered financial hardship from Hurricane Florence will be eligible for support from a $2 million fund established by the university.
• UNC-Chapel Hill reported it will use $1 million from trademark licensing and store revenues and existing scholarships and will match its effort with $1 million from donations. The institution also has set up times to receive donations of food and other products on campus.
• The aid could include money for food, books and travel home, according to The News & Observer.​ The university also opened the Student Success Hub, a specific office to help affected students.

Dive Insight:

Flooding in two states is ongoing in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, and officials reported that 48 people in three states had died as a result of the storm. The hurricane broke rainfall and flooding records in North Carolina and forced thousands from their homes, many of whom can't return yet.

A number of higher education institutions offered tuition and other aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria a year ago, which devastated Puerto Rico and neighboring islands. Florida International University made students from Puerto Rico and the U.S Virgin Islands eligible for in-state tuition, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo requested that affected students attending State University of New York and City University of New York colleges also pay in-state rates, NPR reported. 

Tulane University in New Orleans offered affected students from Puerto Rico one free semester. Tulane officials noted several universities accepted its students after Hurricane Katrina flooded the campus in 2005 and they wanted to help others similarly.

Immediate help is often required from institutions willing to lend a hand because federal funding and other support can be slower to come. The U.S. Department of Education announced in August that it will give $63 million to 47 colleges and universities affected by 2017's Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, as well as other natural disasters.

The department will give a total of $100 million through 2022, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, which notes that the funds can be applied to a range of uses, including helping students find housing as well as repairing damage done to campus infrastructure.