Hurricane Gustav is considered the most damaging hurricane to hit Baton Rouge in the last 40 years, and the University is doing what it can to help students cope.The University started the Student Relief Fund and began accepting applications from students who experienced a financial hardship from the damages caused by Gustav.Chancellor Michael Martin said the University’s goal for the fund is to provide special assistance to students and organizations who have been adversely affected.The last day to turn in applications is Friday.  Amy Marix, assistant director of Student Aid, said in an e-mail they have received 165 applications from students as of Monday afternoon.Marix said the funding for the relief fund came from private donors through the LSU Foundation for Hurricane Relief.Martin said the relief fund started with about $500,000, which was left over from the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund in 2005, and the number doesn’t include newly received donations.”We have a reasonably nice pot of money to provide assistance to students who’ve lost all their books, or if one way or another they are displaced,” Martin said.Marix said there isn’t a single set of criteria to determine the eligibility of a student to receive money from the relief fund.”We will be reviewing loss of wages, loss of books, loss of property and possessions and any other circumstance that warrants funding,” she said.Martin said the requirements for students have been loose and should remain that way.”Everyone has their own unique circumstance,” he said. “The requirement is that it was the storm that gave them an adverse effect, and those adverse effects will have a negative impact on their capacity to succeed.”The application said if a student purposely gives false or misleading information, they will be penalized.Students will not be expected to repay the money given, Marix said.”In some cases, we may be reducing a student’s loan debt in order to allow them to receive relief funding,” she said.Marix said after all the applications have been received, students who are accepted will begin to receive funding after two weeks.—-Contact J.J. Alcantara at [email protected]