A car lies upside down in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene on Monday, Aug. 29, 2011 in Waterbury, Vt. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

Hurricane Irene arrived along the Atlantic coast just in time for fall semester move-in and welcome week activities at universities from the Carolinas to New England.

The University of Delaware was preparing for more than 7,000 students to move into residence halls over the weekend, according to University Spokesperson Meredith Chapman, but the university ultimately decided to delay opening actives ahead of the storm – including move-in and the start of class.

That decision came Thursday, just as the Koppenhaver family was waiting in the Atlanta airport to continue their journey from Southern California to UDel where Sharon Koppenhaver said her daughter will be a freshman nursing student.

While the Koppenhaver’s weren’t able to move into the residence hall on Saturday as scheduled, they were able to do some last minute shopping before weathering the storm at the home of a family member living in Delaware.

“Everyone else had food, water and coolers,” Koppenhaver said of the family’s three shopping carts at Target that exchanged survival provisions for school and dorm supplies.

The university said about 2,000 students were able to drop off belongings in residence halls ahead of the storm, but most of those students then returned home. About 800 students remained on campus throughout the storm.

Erin Bryan, a UDel senior who spent the summer working as a lifeguard at Rehoboth Beach on the Delaware coast, had planned to move into an off-campus residence near the university on Sunday, but decided to travel on Friday ahead of the hurricane to get away from the shoreline.

After learning Irene’s forecasted track would be close to the UDel area, Bryan decided to travel further to stay with family in Virginia until classes finally begin.

Throughout the process, Bryan said she received no less than seven text messages from the university by Friday afternoon, in addition to emails and phone calls, a response she called impressive.

“They have been in contact every way possible,” Bryan said.

By Sunday evening the University of Delaware announced students could continue moving into on-campus residences Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of the fall semester, which is now scheduled to begin Thursday.

At George Mason University near the nation’s capital, most weekend activities went as scheduled. University housing officials urged residents to move-in on Friday or Sunday to miss the height of the storm, which began to hit the D.C. region Saturday evening, although housing check-in on campus remained available throughout the weekend.

Classes at Mason began as scheduled today.

Farther north at Rutgers University in New Jersey, students were encouraged to move into campus housing on Saturday. Additionally, the university canceled a new student convocation that had been scheduled for Sunday, according to a university release.

Irene tracked onto the New Jersey coast early Sunday and then continued north.

At the University of Connecticut classes are canceled today following the storm, as were welcome week activities scheduled for Sunday. Students at UConn were urged not to move onto campus Sunday, and to accommodate that change, additional move-in time was scheduled for Friday night as well as Saturday.