Sandy's Destruction Continues To Make It Hard On L.I. Students Trying To Get Into College

EAST ROCKAWAY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Students on Long Island's South Shore are struggling without homes, schools and even communication with the colleges they desperately want to attend.

It's a tense waiting game for Ryan Murphy of East Rockaway.

Will his mail get forwarded to his grandparents? Do colleges understand his family home was lost to Superstorm Sandy. Do college admissions know that his high school is so heavily damaged, that it cannot yet even reopen?

"Lost my house, lost my school, lost everything -- possibly losing chances at colleges that I wanted to go to," Murphy told CBS 2's Jennifer McLogan on Tuesday.

Juniors and seniors especially are heartsick at their school's devastation. Fall semester grades are on hold, SATs have been canceled and there is concern of falling behind.

Students are in limbo about early decision to an all-important number one choice.

"A lot of stress on everyone -- the teachers, the students, the administration," Murphy said.

Murphy, who plays football, said he has big dreams. Will Notre Dame want him? What about Mount Saint Mary's?

He suffered through a two-week blackout from calling, e-mailing, texting or communicating.

"I have to worry about what I'm missing in school right now, while other kids in other states are learning. [I'm] going to have to compete against them to get into a school," Murphy said.

Murphy's family is crowded together all under one roof keeping upbeat about the college future.

"I'm just so very, very proud of this young man," said Murphy's grandfather, Jack Irwin.

School will soon resume for Murphy, but not at East Rockaway. Junior and senior high school students will be bussed to Baldwin, where the district is renting space at two elementary schools, officials said.

Students will soon learn about make-up days. Some on Nassau's South Shore will have missed three weeks due to Sandy.

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