I finally told the students today (see my explanation buried in #8). Overall they took it well, although naturally the three who are not graduating were not happy. Also one of the graduating students was more upset that I thought he would be -- I guess he felt some ownership of the program after working on it for three semesters, and having it end feels like a personal insult (even though it isn't). He asked me if the reason is political or financial. Good question! Ha, some (and I used to) believe that everything is economic, but I said "political" almost without thinking. I told the undergrads too. They are not impacted as much but they were quite disturbed by the news too. Anyway, I am glad that is over, I have been dreading it for a month.