Colorado Dependent Tuition Assistance Program

The Colorado Department of Higher Education runs the Dependent Tuition Assistance Program, which pays tuition and, at in-state public institutions, room and board for qualifying dependents pursuing a first bachelor's degree or a certificate. Read the eligibility before anything else, because the program is far narrower than its name suggests. It covers dependents of a prisoner of war or a person missing in action, under Colorado Revised Statute 23-3.3-204, and dependents of law enforcement officers, firefighters, and Colorado National Guard members who were killed or permanently disabled, under statute 23-3.3-205. For a Guard member the qualifying event has to have occurred on state active duty or authorized training duty. That means a child of a veteran with a 100 percent VA rating from federal service does not qualify. Neither does a child of a service member who died on federal active duty in a theater of war, unless the POW or MIA provisions apply. Colorado has no general survivor or disabled-veteran dependent tuition program of the kind Arizona, North Carolina, and Washington provide. A family in that situation should be looking at the federal Chapter 35 Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance program and the Fry Scholarship instead, which is where the money actually is for them. For a family that does qualify, the benefit is generous. At a Colorado public institution the program covers tuition plus room and board at base rates, with the dependent required to live in standard double-occupancy housing through the residence hall to get room and board. A dependent at a non-residential Colorado public institution who does not live at home gets tuition plus a $1,000 per semester stipend. At an eligible Colorado non-public institution, tuition is capped at the average charged by a comparable public institution, with room and board similarly capped. At an out-of-state institution, tuition only, at the lesser of the comparable Colorado public rate for the prior year or actual cost, with no room and board. Required institutional fees are never covered. The conditions on the student are strict and several are easy to breach without realizing it. Enrollment in the program has to begin before age 24. A cumulative 2.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale has to be maintained, with one year's grace for a newly enrolled dependent. FAFSA has to be completed annually and the College Opportunity Fund application once. Benefits stop at eight academic semesters, and the degree or certificate has to be finished within six years of initial enrollment. Summer and winter terms are not covered. And marriage while participating ends participation. A dependent includes a natural child, a child lawfully adopted or for whom adoption proceedings began before the qualifying event, and a child in the legal custody of, or for whom custody proceedings were initiated by, the parent before the qualifying event. The application window is March 1 through June 30. Documents containing personal information go through the ShareFile secure portal rather than to the program mailbox. Proving the parent's eligibility takes specific records, typically a Fire and Police Pension Association award letter with a medical advisor's summary or death certificate, or a commanding officer's letter certifying the circumstances, or a workers' compensation admission of liability. Payments go directly to the institution after the census date each semester.