The Central Michigan University campus is shown Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005, in Mount Pleasant, Mich. Dozens of prospective Central Michigan University students who were mistakenly told they had won full-ride scholarships that include room and board have received an apology from the school — and offers of the equivalent of full-tuition scholarships. The university said Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2022, it was an error and the message went out “inadvertently” during testing of new messaging technology. (AP Photo/Al Goldis, File)
Dozens of prospective Central Michigan University students who were mistakenly told they had won full-ride scholarships that include room and board have received an apology from the school — and offers of the equivalent of full-tuition scholarships “to make it right."
School officials said 58 youths received messages last weekend while accessing the university portal telling them they had won a Centralis Scholars Award, which includes full tuition, room and board, money toward books and supplies, and a $5,000 “study away award."
But the university said Wednesday that those contacted hadn’t won the prestigious award and the message had gone out “inadvertently” as school staffers were testing new messaging technology.
Parker Christensen, a 17-year-old senior at Newaygo High School, said he was so excited to have won the scholarship he told his friends and family, and his mother posted about it on social media.
But his joy evaporated when he learned the message was a mistake.
“Colleges are supposed to make your dreams come true not destroy them or make you second guess if they are achievable,” Christensen told Central Michigan Life, CMU’s student newspaper.
University officials apologized for the error Wednesday night, and offered all 58 prospective students the equivalent of a full-tuition scholarship.
“We deeply regret the disappointment and frustration caused by the test message error in the student portal,” CMU spokesman Aaron Mills said in a statement. “To make it right, we will be reaching out to each of the 58 students who saw the congratulatory message regarding the Centralis Scholarship and offering ... the equivalent of a full-tuition scholarship.”
It is not clear how much more money that means for the affected prospective students, but tuition for U.S. residents at CMU is estimated to be about $12,750 a year.
The Centralis Scholars Award is considered the premier merit scholarship CMU offers, according to the school's website. The scholarships are awarded to high school seniors and only students who have a minimum 3.7 GPA and have already been admitted to the university are eligible.
In addition to full tuition, room and board and the award's other benefits, students who get the scholarship can also take part in special honors classes.
Jared C. Bass, senior director for Higher Education at the Center for American Progress, joins Cheddar News to discuss how schools are navigating the Omicron variant.
Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of the advocacy group GLAAD, joined Cheddar to discuss the organization's Accelerating Acceptance report that examines how welcoming the general public is toward members of the LGBTQ+ community. Ellis noted that while visibility and representation is up in media, video games, and on social media, it has conversely opened the door for increased targeted harassment on the street, particularly for transgender and gender non-conforming people. "I go to the school board meetings, I hear the homophobia and the transphobia in-person, in real-time, and so, we're seeing that more and more at the local level across the country," Ellis said. "And we're going to see that play out in the midterm elections, especially the local elections."
Steve Patton, EY Americas Mobility Sector Leader, joins Cheddar News to discuss what can be done to speed up the adoption of EVs, and how infrastructure can be scaled up to support this transition.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is ramping up a civil investigation into The Trump Organization. The AG's office has subpoenaed Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. They have refused to comply with the subpoenas. Bradley Moss, national security attorney, joins Cheddar News to discuss the next steps in this investigation.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has officially reduced the 110-year prison sentence of truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos to 10 years, calling the initial lengthy sentence “unjust.” Dan Gilleon, constitutional attorney at Gilleon Law Firm APC, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
LG announced its latest cooking appliances including its ThinQ Recipe service. The app allows people to choose from up to 10,000 recipes and have the ingredients delivered to their doorstep. LG Electronics executive Brandt Varner joins Cheddar News to talk about the products.
Former Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams was sworn in as the newest Mayor of New York City. Adams is now expected to work on a number of issues such as crime and coronavirus. Erin Durkin,, reporter at PoliticoNY, joins Cheddar News to discuss more.
The six-month trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has come to an end with the former tech startup star found guilty of four out of 11 counts of fraud. Michael S. Weinstein, Esq, chair of the white collar criminal defense practice at Cole Schotz, and former Department of Justice trial attorney, joined Cheddar News Wrap to discuss what happens next for the former mogul. "Do I think it's going to be more than five or seven years? Probably yes. I think that's probably a fair range at this point," he said about her potential prison sentence.
We are just one day away from what has been called the most influential tech event in the world. CES 2022 will officially kick off on Wednesday in Las Vegas, but the annual tech summit is being impacted by COVID-19, like so many other recent events. The Consumer Technology Association originally planned for a hybrid event to take place from January 5-8, with some in-person events and some virtual; however, a few big-name companies announced they will not be attending in-person, so the CTA decided to shorten the event by one day, with it now ending on Friday. Consumer electronics senior analyst Will Greenwald joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
