When the General Assembly in the summer of 2016 first began talking about N.C. Promise, a program to lower tuition at a handful of UNC system universities, UNCP Chancellor Robin Cummings opened his mind rather than close it.

Cummings, while mindful that N.C. Promise could not be coupled with a loss of revenue for The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, imagined the possibilities, not only for the university, but for students in economically depressed Robeson County. The program reduces and caps tuition at UNCP at $500 a semester for in-state students, and $2,500 for out-of-state students, not only a significant savings, but one that for many students brings a four-year university education within reach.

As a new year begins, and the start of the 2018-19 school year at UNCP nears, Cummings’ decision is being validated, as applications at the university are up 50 percent over this time last year, and there is potential for hundreds of new students on the campus in the fall.

It is too early to know how many of those students will be Robeson County residents who otherwise would not be attending a four-year university, but we will hazard a guess: a significant number — and as their ranks rise in the coming years, they will be a force in transforming this county.

Cummings’ decision was not, as it might seem now, a no-brainer. There was even cynical sentiment that summer that the plan, which was offered to UNCP, Western Carolina University, and three historically black universities, Fayetteville State, Winston-Salem State and Elizabeth City State, was a covert attempt to starve those universities of funding and eventually padlock them.

What was missed by some, but not by Cummings, was that Senate Bill 873 was the brainchild of Sen. Tom Apodaca, a Republican, yes, but also a graduate of Western Carolina. Why, it had to be asked, would Apodaca draft legislation that would lead to the demise of his alma mater?

In fact, Apodaca was attempting to save the historically black colleges from their declining enrollment, and UNCP was added only to protect it from a loss of area students who would pick Fayetteville State over it. In the end, Western Carolina, Elizabeth City State, and UNCP enlisted in the program, and Fayetteville State and Winston-Salem State opted out. Time will tell how that affects those two.

Cummings that summer did his due diligence, making frequent trips to Raleigh to meet with legislators to get assurance that dollars lost to UNCP because of the tuition reduction would be made up by the state. As detailed in staff writer Scott Bigelow’s page 1A story today, the state — so far — has made good on its promise.

While there is no guarantee that the state’s promise will be forever fulfilled, it would make no sense for legislators to reduce funding for a program that is getting more of the state’s young people a quality education.

Cummings, since he became the UNCP chancellor in 2015, has been consistent in his belief that the university can be an agent of change for Robeson County and Southeastern North Carolina. His eyes were wide to much of what afflicts Robeson County and the broader region, and he knows that meaningful change depends on getting young people educated, in particular first-generation minority students from homes where an education was either not coveted or too costly.

The wheels of progress always turn slowly in Robeson County, but don’t doubt the potential that N.C. Promise has for depressing the accelerator. Be glad that Cummings envisioned what some others could not.