2008 Woodie Awards
R.I.P CMU Promise
Fixed tuition plan leads to fourth highest tuition in the state
By: Chad Livengood
Issue date: 2/18/08 Section: Voices
The CMU Promise died Thursday after reality set in for university officials that they could no longer justify raising tuition by 17 to 21 percent each school year.
The Promise, born sometime around April 2005, didn't make it to its third birthday. The Promise is preceded in departure from Central Michigan University by Rich Morrison, former trustees Roger Kesseler and Jerry Campbell and its presumptive father, George Ross.
Survivors of The Promise include President Michael Rao, Vice President Barrie Wilkes and trustees John G. Kulhavi, Jeff Caponigro, Stephanie Comai and Gail Torreano.
Also surviving The Promise are thousands of CMU students who got their tuition locked-in for five years in exchange for accepting massive double digit increases forced upon them in the middle of the summer.
Born behind closed doors in Warriner Hall, The Promise was made public in July 2005 when most students were home earning money to pay the next year's tuition bill.
Its debut featured glossy pamphlets, printed a month before The Promise's adoptive parents - the board of trustees - announced The Promise's birth.
But like any young child, The Promise went through some growing pains. Seniors who had more than 100 credit hours in the fall of 2005 discovered a 40 percent tuition hike when they came back to campus last fall. The Promise was inadvertently designed to penalize them.
In August 2007, The Promise came down with a cold before the first home football game. At $304 a credit hour, officials weren't sure if they could afford to keep the Promise on life support. Having their hands tied to The Promise was no way to raise a budget.
The Promise died never really knowing why it was conceived.
Four years before The Promise arrived to campus, Rao had proposed raising tuition by 28 percent in the middle of the 2001-02 school year. Rao's stated intent was to raise enough money to shoulder state funding reductions, making on-campus budget cuts less politically painful for the young president.
The Promise, born sometime around April 2005, didn't make it to its third birthday. The Promise is preceded in departure from Central Michigan University by Rich Morrison, former trustees Roger Kesseler and Jerry Campbell and its presumptive father, George Ross.
Survivors of The Promise include President Michael Rao, Vice President Barrie Wilkes and trustees John G. Kulhavi, Jeff Caponigro, Stephanie Comai and Gail Torreano.
Also surviving The Promise are thousands of CMU students who got their tuition locked-in for five years in exchange for accepting massive double digit increases forced upon them in the middle of the summer.
Born behind closed doors in Warriner Hall, The Promise was made public in July 2005 when most students were home earning money to pay the next year's tuition bill.
Its debut featured glossy pamphlets, printed a month before The Promise's adoptive parents - the board of trustees - announced The Promise's birth.
But like any young child, The Promise went through some growing pains. Seniors who had more than 100 credit hours in the fall of 2005 discovered a 40 percent tuition hike when they came back to campus last fall. The Promise was inadvertently designed to penalize them.
In August 2007, The Promise came down with a cold before the first home football game. At $304 a credit hour, officials weren't sure if they could afford to keep the Promise on life support. Having their hands tied to The Promise was no way to raise a budget.
The Promise died never really knowing why it was conceived.
Four years before The Promise arrived to campus, Rao had proposed raising tuition by 28 percent in the middle of the 2001-02 school year. Rao's stated intent was to raise enough money to shoulder state funding reductions, making on-campus budget cuts less politically painful for the young president.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Kevin MacMillan
posted 2/18/08 @ 3:07 PM EST
Chad ... why do you care so much about the mid-level college you used to attend, three years after the fact?
Kevin MacMillan
Sports Editor,
North Lake Tahoe Bonanza
Tahoe Vista, CA
michmediaperson
posted 2/19/08 @ 8:11 PM EST
Chad's well-written column was right on the money.
The spin in 2005 was they had to do this because of a lack of state funding. Now, they say they had to do away with this because of a lack of state funding. (Continued…)
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