Many of CMU’s 3,800 incoming freshmen received a nasty surprise in February when the Board of Trustees ended the CMU Promise.

Assuming most students who enroll for the fall apply for and choose a college by the winter, a reasonable expectation, it is safe to say many took a liking to CMU’s fixed tuition guarantee.

After all, even through the toughest times of the Promise, Trustees harped about its advantages, including its ability to allow students and parents to better plan their financial futures.

That is dependability that makes or breaks the significant decision of choosing an education.

But consider the timing of this one: Trustees killed the Promise during their meeting Feb. 14. That is one day before the deadline for incoming fall freshmen to file for financial aid.

Let’s be honest – it was apparent that, especially with Michigan’s unstable economy, the CMU Promise was on thin ice. The plan alone shifted CMU into one of the most expensive colleges in the state, particularly for each wave of incoming freshmen.

But why February? Why in the same month as the university’s financial aid deadline for the following fall?

Shouldn’t a decision as monumental as removing your token marketing pitch be saved for a time when prospective students are thinking about a college choice – rather than when they’re figuring out their college loans?

Trustees did a tremendous injustice to this incoming class by pulling out the Promise from under students’ feet. Even with the telltale signs of the Promise’s end, they can not expect students to be aware of its possible termination.

All the prospective students see is the word “promise.” A strong word when it comes to marketing. A word the university used last year when most freshmen on campus were trying to make a significant decision.

Now several of the 3,800 incoming freshmen – which is the largest total in history, according to Director of Admissions Betty Wagner – are voicing out. The university broke its promise to them. Guarantees do not look so secure around here anymore.

Trustees could have made their decision to cut the Promise two summers ago, when they admitted they were taking a second look at it, for this year’s incoming students. They also could have made the decision last summer and started with next year’s crop.

Instead, they ballyhoo the CMU Promise to one more crop of students, only to look back and say, “Just kidding!”

How convenient for Trustees that know it will take at least four years, when the last group to receive the Promise is expected to graduate, for the university to recover.

Really, it leaves a bitter end to what was once a promising pledge to prospective students.

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