This tragic event has impacted thousands of lives in the Gulf Coast region, and perhaps dozens of our member colleges and universities have suffered extensive physical damage to facilities ... [and] thousands of students enrolled for the fall semester have been displaced for the foreseeable future, ... We have already been in touch with federal policy-makers to ensure that they are aware of the acute needs of colleges and universities in the region, and have identified policy changes that may be needed to help students and institutions cope with this unprecedented disaster.