Hurricane Maria Response: Tri-C Offering Tuition Assistance for Those Displaced by Disaster

College moves to reduce costs for arrivals from Puerto Rico

Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C^®) will offer tuition assistance this summer to help students from Puerto Rico who relocated to Northeast Ohio after Hurricane Maria.

In addition, the College is working with the Ohio Department of Higher Education to formalize a partial tuition waiver to offer credit hour savings in future semesters for those displaced by the disaster.

“Our goal is to provide an affordable educational opportunity to fellow citizens who arrived in Northeast Ohio to rebuild their lives,” Tri-C President Alex Johnson said. “We want to provide our neighbors every opportunity to succeed in their new home and to become vibrant members of the community through education and training.”

The tuition reduction plan builds on Tri-C’s efforts to help those displaced by Hurricane Maria. The College is among the many local organizations behind Bienvenidos a Cleveland, a collaborative project designed to assist families relocating from Puerto Rico.

Tri-C launched a website for the project in November to provide an online directory of agencies and organizations offering resources to arriving families.

Hundreds of families have arrived in the region since late September and sought support from community-based agencies such as the Spanish American Committee, Cleveland’s oldest and largest Hispanic social service agency.

Hurricane Maria ranks as one of the worst natural disasters on record in the United States territory. Hundreds of thousands are expected to leave the island to escape the ongoing humanitarian crisis. 

For more information on the tuition program, contact Tri-C’s Hispanic Council at 216-987-5359.

February 08, 2018

John Horton, 216-987-4281 john.horton@tri-c.edu