Colorado waives college application fees Oct. 20-22 as CSU guarantees admission at a 3.0 GPA

All 32 public colleges and universities in Colorado, along with several private institutions, will waive application fees for state residents during the three-day window, according to the department's program page and Colorado Public Radio. The waiver covers undergraduate programs, including certificates, associate degrees and bachelor's degrees, and is open to first-time freshmen, transfer students, returning students and applicants seeking a second bachelor's degree. Graduate programs are not eligible. Fee waiver methods vary by institution, and the department has posted instructions for each participating school.

"Colorado Free Application Days encourages more students and learners to take the next step towards a successful education and career journey. Last year more than 70,000 Coloradans submitted an application, saving Coloradans $2.4 million in application fees," Polis said in the announcement. The department's own count for the 2025 event, held Oct. 7-9, is 71,504 applications, a 9 percent increase from 2024, with more than $2.4 million saved in waived fees. Of last year's applications, 36 percent came from first-generation students and 49 percent from students of color, according to the department.

The savings are concrete for students applying widely. Application fees average about $50 per school, Colorado Public Radio and The Denver Focal reported. Javier Tafoya, a senior at DSST: Montview High School in Denver who plans to apply to 15 colleges, including the University of Colorado Boulder, the Colorado School of Mines and the University of Colorado Denver, told both outlets: "Getting three out of the way for free is really nice." Henry Whipple, the DSST network's senior manager of college success, told CPR: "Application fees, if it's anywhere between $200 to $600 in total, that's a barrier that we don't want our students and families facing."

The window arrives with a second barrier removed at the state's land-grant university. Colorado State University has launched a pilot program guaranteeing admission for summer and fall 2027 to Colorado high school students with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher, the university announced. To qualify, students must graduate from a Colorado high school and apply for summer or fall 2027 freshman admission with at least six semesters of high school work completed, according to the university's admissions office. The guarantee does not extend to direct entry into majors with more competitive entrance requirements, and the pilot builds on a similar guarantee CSU recently launched for Denver Public Schools students.

"We're just trying it out for this next year," Heather Daniels, CSU's executive director of admissions, told Colorado Public Radio. "We'll see what sort of interest we get, see what it looks like across the state. And then hopefully we can extend, and this could be something that we do permanently." The university says it will assess the pilot after the 2027 cycle for possible long-term adoption. Applying to CSU is already free year-round for Colorado residents, one of several institutions the state lists as charging Colorado residents no application fee, alongside Adams State University, Colorado State University Pueblo, Metropolitan State University of Denver and Western Colorado University.

Community colleges and area technical colleges charge no application fee at any time of year, according to the department, and hardship fee waivers remain available year-round at almost all colleges for students who cannot wait for the October window. The Free Application Days cap Colorado Applies Month, the state's five-week campaign to raise college-going and financial aid application rates. Students can prepare applications in advance and submit them during the Oct. 20-22 window, and the department advises applicants to also complete the FAFSA or the state CASFA aid application.