The region's colleges have begun enrolling students affected by Hurricane Katrina.

The first of what Penn State University expects will be 50 to 75 undergraduates displaced from Gulf Coast schools have arrived for fall study, Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said. A significant number are from Tulane University in New Orleans, though a head count was not available yesterday.

In addition, seven doctoral students from Xavier University in New Orleans who already were studying at Penn State under an exchange program now expect family members to relocate to Pennsylvania given the devastation in their communities. Mahon said Penn State is assisting in the search for suitable housing.

Meanwhile, Carnegie Mellon University said it now has 10 students on its campus who had planned to enroll at Tulane, including some from Maryland, Seattle and the Pittsburgh region.

"They are here and they are actually in class," spokeswoman Teresa Thomas said yesterday.

She said Carnegie Mellon anticipates 10 to 15 additional students, mostly from Tulane.

Carnegie Mellon, like many major universities, said it will not charge students for tuition if they already had paid at the school in which they were enrolled.

The State System of Higher Education is waiting to see how many Pennsylvanians take advantage of an offer it extended last week to waive tuition for any state resident who was enrolled in a school in the New Orleans area.

Chatham College said it is also offering a tuition waiver for students displaced by the hurricane.

Duquesne University so far has enrolled three students. Two are from Loyola University, a Catholic institution in New Orleans. They include a senior from Mt. Lebanon and a freshman from Harrisburg. A third student, a freshman who planned to study at Tulane, also has enrolled at Duquesne, spokeswoman Bridget Fare said. University officials said the school can accommodate at least 100 students from colleges in New Orleans and the gulf states.

The University of Pittsburgh has extended a similar offer to students from college campuses affected by Katrina.

Robert Morris University is prepared to admit up to 20 undergraduate and 20 graduate students for the fall semester.