by Soren Ryan-Jensen
Does the “Centre Commitment” ring a bell? If you’re not a senior or a junior, you may be forgiven for not knowing, as the term has disappeared from the student handbook. To quote the 2023-2024 student handbook in which it last appeared: “The Centre Commitment guarantees students who meet the College’s academic and social expectations an internship or a research opportunity, study abroad, and graduation in four years. If a student is unable to secure the components of the Centre Commitment within four consecutive years of enrollment, the College will provide up to an additional year of study tuition-free.”
It would have been fair to assume that this commitment is no longer valid, given that it is now absent from college materials, which is strange considering no major announcement was made about the policy’s end. Amid rising tuition costs, it feels that canceling a policy which promised a potentially free year of tuition should have warranted at least an email.
To find out more I followed up with a faculty member, who said the Centre Commitment was removed because the college no longer wants to feature it in advertising. While this seems like a strange move, the commitment itself should still be valid. It would help if the college issued a brief, clear statement confirming whether the guarantees still apply to current students, a short FAQ or contact point for students with specific concerns would also be useful. Clear communication would reassure students and families and help them plan confidently for the remainder of their time at Centre.