Debt, missed classes and anxiety: How climate-driven disasters hurt college students

Climate-driven disasters are getting more frequent. They can be particularly destabilizing for college-age people who are in socially and financially formative years. Here, debris piled outside a home after a massive flood in Baton Rouge, La., in 2016. (Zhang Chaoqun /Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images)

In August 2016, Maameefua Koomson had just moved into her dorm at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Sophomore year was shaping up to be excellent. Koomson was a strong student, she was pursuing her dream of studying creative writing, and she had landed a plum job as a resident assistant, or RA, in an honors dorm.

"I was, like, I'm going to be the best RA to these freshmen," she remembers. "I did a Sponge Bob-themed hall. I had events planned out."