ROCHESTER, Mich. — Just days after Central Michigan University announced it will provide full tuition to 58 students it mistakenly awarded scholarships to, another school on the east side of the state is apologizing for the same thing.
On Jan. 4, Oakland University sent an email to 5,500 admitted students that they had received the Platinum Presidential Scholar Award, the highest scholarship Oakland offers.
"It was, like, a perfect case scenario," says Carnell Poindexter, a senior at West Bloomfield High School. "I get to go to school for free."
The scholarship, $12,000 per year. Poindexter was proud his strong 3.8 high school GPA was finally paying off.
"I probably got too excited, honestly," he says. "My mind was kind of set on it."
But a couple hours later, the second email came.
The scholarship was not meant for him.
"I was really kind of embarrassed," says Poindexter. "It was more of an embarrassing feeling. I was like, oh, I got my hopes up for this."
In a letter sent to the impacted students the following day, Oakland University's admissions office said in part, "We are sorry for the added confusion and disappointment this email has caused. While we know that this message will not make up for our mistake, we wanted to share our deep regret that this error occurred, and our deep compassion toward all those affected."
But for Poindexter, that just isn't enough.
"The feeling is crushing, it really is," says Poindexter.
Poindexter plans to study pre-law and hopes he'll get some help from the university.
After seeing Central Michigan give full tuition to all the students impacted by its mistake, he says he feels envious.
"Definitely wish that could happen to me," says Poindexter. "I guess I didn't get the right email from the right school."
Poindexter says he has emailed the admissions office to ask what scholarships he does apply for, but has yet to receive a response.
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