The University of Wisconsin has waived tuition for Hurricane Katrina evacuees, although the number of students accepting the offer has been limited.

One-hundred-twenty-five students were accepted on the UW offer – 100 at the Madison campus and 25 at the Milwaukee campus. Only about 50 of the people who applied to Madison actually enrolled, however, said John Lucas, university relations specialist for the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He said he didn’t know the actual number of students who chose the University of Wisconsin’s other campuses.

“This is probably because those students were also looking at other schools across the country,” he said.

Lucas said location probably played a big factor, as many students may have chosen places closer to family members.

The waived tuition is only for the fall term, and if the university wishes to waive tuition for the spring semester, it will have to be passed by the Wisconsin Board of Regents and the state legislature.

Iowa State isn’t considering waiving tuition altogether for evacuees, but it is offering in-state tuition.

Only three students have accepted the offer of in-state tuition, said Phillip Caffrey, associate director of admissions.

Finances, however, were not the most important issue to one evacuee who chose Iowa State.

Caffrey said it is likely that more students didn’t choose Iowa State because fall semester starts earlier here than at other schools.

“Iowa State is doing very significant things to assist these students in every way we can,” Caffrey said.

Lindsay Labanca, senior in forestry, said after being evacuated from Hurricane Katrina, she came to Iowa State because of the proximity to her fiance’s hometown of Pella.

Labanca said she had not heard about the waived tuition the University of Wisconsin was offering before applying to Iowa State, but said she would have still chosen to come to Ames.

“Tuition was not such a big factor,” Labanca said.

“It was fantastic that Iowa State offered me in-state tuition,” she said.

Hurricane Katrina evacuees are being provided with flood release scholarships from the university, and the University Book Store is providing financial aid for text books, Caffrey said.