MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Central Michigan University has announced it will offer full scholarships to students who were mistakenly told via email that they had won a prestigious award.

>> Read more trending news

School officials said 58 students received the email telling them they had won the Centralis Scholars Award, which includes full tuition as well as room and board, money toward books and supplies and a $5,000 “study away award,” The Associated Press reported.

The emails were never meant to be sent, and were instead mistakenly sent out while testing messaging technology, the school’s newspaper, Central Michigan Life, reported. One of the students who said he mistakenly got the email, Parker Christensen, told Central Michigan Life, “colleges are supposed to make your dreams come true, not destroy them or make you second guess if they are achievable.”

The Centralis Scholar Program is described by Central Michigan University as the school’s “premier merit awards,” and is open to high school seniors who have been admitted to the school and have a minimum high school GPA of 3.7.

Three days after making the mistake, the university said it would pay four years of full tuition for the students who had received the notice by mistake, but that the students would not receive the other perks the award would have included, The New York Times reported.

Central Michigan University did not say how much it would cost the school to pay the students, but The Associated Press reports the estimated tuition for the school is $12,750 a year.

©2022 Cox Media Group