The UNC System is assessing damages to public universities in western North Carolina, and combined with lost revenue and other costs, the tally will likely come to more than $33 million.
Several academic buildings at Appalachian State University were water damaged, including its convocation center, a gym, and a science building. The school just started holding classes again this week.
At UNC-Asheville, the storm cut off its water and electricity. The school plans to start instruction back up on Oct. 28, but students won’t come back to classrooms to take them. For the rest of the semester, classes will be held online.
As of Oct. 18, students, faculty, and staff still haven’t returned to campus due to a lack of drinkable water. Students who weren’t able to return home are being hosted by other campuses like UNC-Charlotte and UNC-Greensboro.
Western Carolina University will resume classes as normal on Oct. 21.
The UNC System estimates it will take about $14 million to cover damages to equipment, repair buildings, and remove debris on the campuses. This estimate also includes mutual aid the universities have provided to the community.
Appalachian State hosted a Red Cross shelter on its campus, UNC-Asheville fed over 300 first responders, and other universities in the System sent emergency personnel to assist with recoveries.
The UNC System projects the other $19 million in losses will come from canceled events and potential tuition refunds for students who may not return to impacted campuses.
At a UNC Board of Governors meeting Thursday, BOG member Kirk Bradley said he doesn’t expect the costs to stop there.
“One of the problems there is such a volume of construction that needs to be done, it's going to be difficult to get both materials and contractors there,” Bradley said. “And so, I expect some (of) these numbers will change.”
Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Haygood also said the projections don’t include estimated revenue losses for next semester, like a potential decline in spring enrollment at the affected institutions. She said overall, however, the System is “in a very fortunate position.”
“I'm sure there will be other things that we discover,” Haygood said at the meeting. “But on the whole, while those are not anything to blink at, I do think that our system fared very well. And the amount of cooperation within the system has been, I think, very commendable.”
President Peter Hans said the System will use a combination of insurance and FEMA disaster relief to pay for the damages. However, he doesn’t expect the reimbursements to cover everything.
“I would expect the state (legislature) would help us in some regard, with some cash flow related to our hurricane damages and expenses. But not fund the entirety of what we have outlined, because they need us to go through the insurance process and FEMA process first,” Hans said at the meeting.
The System is already working with the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority to provide additional financial aid to students in western North Carolina. Any student who attends one of the three affected universities and also qualifies for the state’s Next NC scholarship will get an additional $850 of financial aid.
“We believe we can free up a little over $7 million to put towards students who qualify,” Hans said. “And we’re hoping to do the same for community college students.”
Hans said any community college effort would have to be done through the state. He’s also working with the legislature to develop UNC-Asheville-specific funding. The plan is to offer incentives to support student retention.
“As you all know quite well, UNCA has been enrollment challenged in recent years,” Hans said. “We’ve regained momentum under the leadership of Chancellor (Kimberly) van Noort and we don’t want to lose that momentum.”
Earlier this year, van Noort cut several departments from UNC Asheville to address a $6 million budget shortfall. The university has lost 25% of its student body in the past five years due to enrollment declines.
Several universities in the UNC System will waive their application fees for students in Helene-affected areas during College Application Week. This includes students from 39 disaster-declared counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
College Application Week starts on Oct. 21 and lasts until Oct. 27.
WUNC partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
