College Cancelled Advertised Scholarship After Program Began

Location: Massachusetts

I am attending a college in MA for their Surgical Technology Program. They have had flyers, handouts, posters and even had a posting in the program description stating "All new Surgical Technology students will be eligible for a $1000 First Year Scholarship." The scholarship would be automatically applied to your tuition, no additional requirements on the recipients part.

One week before classes I was checking my balance to ensure everything was in order and noticed the scholarship was not listed. Not a huge deal as some scholarships I have received get deducted later in the semester, but I was curious so I emailed the College Financial Aid Department. The reply I received stated that they were unable to fund this scholarship AND that the advertisement was for the previous year not this year. The flyer I have specifies the Fall 26 through Spring 27 semester.

Classes began, some students were discussing them waiting to receive the mentioned scholarship and I informed them of the information I was given. Visible panic began to spread through the classroom, as no one was informed and many of us were really hoping to get any help we could to afford this program.

The flyers and posters were taken down the first week of the semester, the website was edited over this past weekend. Many of my classmates want to send a formal complaint letter either individually or as a whole in hopes it would convince the college to pay out the advertised scholarship.

My concerns are the phrasing of the scholarship offer using the word "eligible" instead of some other wording like "guarantee".

Other than being a really crappy thing to do, is there any legal precedent to this situation? Do we as the students have any ground to stand on in demanding this be paid out?

Thank you in advance.