Central Michigan University Incorrectly Sends Message to 58 Students Telling They Won Full Scholarships

Central Michigan University (CMU) will pay full tuition to 58 high school seniors after it mistakenly sent out notifications to students saying that the latter have won scholarships which cover all expenses related to college.

According to CMU, staff was testing new messaging technology during which process the mistake was made, Erudera.com reports.

Students were told that they had won the university’s Centralis Scholars Award, which would cover tuition, room, and board for four years. In addition, they were also told that they had won a $5,000 scholarship to pursue studies abroad.

Three days after sending the wrong notification, the university came up with a statement saying that it had decided to pay these students four years of full tuition. The scholarship will not cover other expenses.

“We deeply regret the disappointment and frustration caused by the test message error in the student portal,” CMU said in the statement.

It is not yet known how much the amount that students will receive is, but one year at the Central Michigan University reaches $12,750.

Centralis scholarships are university premier merit awards. According to CMU’s website, there are two levels of awards, both granted to high school seniors:

• Centralis Scholar Award
• Centralis Gold Award

High school seniors with a high school GPA of 3.7 and who have been admitted to the university are eligible for this type of scholarship.

Similarly, another university in Michigan, Oakland University mistakenly notified some 5,500 potential students on January 4 that they had received the university’s highest award – Oakland University’s Platinum Presidential Scholar Award.

The Director of Media Relations Brian Bierley said a statement sent to The Post that, unfortunately, students who have received emails do not meet the eligibility requirements for the scholarship but the latter have qualified for other levels of university scholarships.

Within two hours, the university contacted students who had received messages by mistake, sending an immediate correction update and apologizing for the error and the “confusion and disappointment the email has caused.”

“Unfortunately, due to a human error, the email was inadvertently sent to you and others who had not received Presidential Scholar awards. Please know we take this unfortunate mistake very seriously and would like to sincerely apologize,” the statement reads.

The mistake has disturbed and disappointed many families of students who received emails; however, Bierley told the Post that there were also families and students who were understanding.