Four historically black colleges — three in New Orleans and one in Mississippi — are getting almost $400 million in ultra-low-interest federal loans to recover from Hurricane Katrina’s destruction.

James Manning of the Education Department presented checks Wednesday to the leaders of Southern University at New Orleans, which is still operating out of temporary buildings, Dillard and Xavier universities, also in New Orleans, and Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Miss.

“You can’t imagine how important this is to us,” Dillard President Marvalene Hughes said. “This is a day … that means, with the type of creativity we can utilize, we can revitalize our campuses.”

Xavier is getting $165 million, Dillard $160 million, SUNO $44 million and Tougaloo $28.6 million. Congress approved the loans, which have no interest for their first three years and 1 percent for the remaining 27.