LITTLE ROCK -- Sixteen Arkansas public institutions of higher learning have joined the Sloan Consortium, an international association of colleges and universities committed to quality online education, which 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 a $1.1 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the eight-week accelerated Sloan Semester 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 beginning Oct. 10. 

   Arkansas colleges and universities that have signed on to participate in the Sloan Semester include: Arkansas State University-Beebe; Arkansas State University-Newport; Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas; Henderson State University; North Arkansas College; Northwest Arkansas Community College; Ozarka College; Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas; Pulaski Technical College; Ouachita Technical College; Southeast Arkansas College; Southern Arkansas University-Tech; University of Arkansas Community College at Hope; University of Arkansas at Little Rock; University of Arkansas at Monticello and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. 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 of the 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.”

   The Foundation’s goal is to accommodate 10,000 of the estimated 130,000 college students who were impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Students interested in finding out more about the program and the free courses can do so at www.SloanSemester.org.

   “The institutions have been aggressively working to accommodate Katrina evacuees in Arkansas by helping students with enrollment, providing community services and organizing fundraisers. Offering these free online courses through the Sloan Semester is just one more service provided to students displaced by the hurricane,” said Dr. Linda Beene, director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. “We encourage affected students from the Gulf Coast to take advantage of this grant provided by the Sloan Foundation to avoid missing a semester of college.”

   The Sloan Consortium 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.

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