{"answer":"Colorado has 3 state scholarship programs for students who graduate from its own high schools. The table says what each one pays, who qualifies, and when it closes, in the state's own words.","as_of":"October 2026","date":"2026-10-21","dek":"The table holds every state-funded award we could confirm for a Colorado high school graduate going to college. It does not hold federal aid, or a scholarship that comes from one college rather than from the state.","faq":[{"a":"Colorado has 3 state scholarship programs for students who graduate from its own high schools. The table says what each one pays, who qualifies, and when it closes, in the state's own words.","q":"What scholarships does Colorado offer?"},{"a":"None of the state programs on this table turns on a GPA or a test score.","q":"Does Colorado have a merit scholarship?"},{"a":"Every row links to the page the state publishes for that program. The rules and the dollar figures move from year to year, so the page is the thing to read, not a summary of it.","q":"How do I find the rules for a Colorado scholarship?"}],"findings":[{"h":"Colorado state aid is need-based, not merit-based.","p":"None of the state programs on this table turns on a GPA or a test score. They ask about family income instead, through the FAFSA. Colorado Promise is the exception."},{"h":"The state's own pages are the only place these rules live.","p":"Every row links to the page the state publishes for that program. The rules and the dollar figures move from year to year, so the page is the thing to read, not a summary of it."},{"h":"What this table does not tell you.","p":"1 program publishes figures for an earlier award year (2025-26), and the state has posted nothing newer we could find. The table says which year each one describes. The state agency's own page names 1 more program in a second table below. Some of those pages give no award figure at all, so those rows carry the name and the link only."}],"license":"CC BY 4.0 \u2014 quote with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach)","method":"Programs come from the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) and the agency's own program pages, read in October 2026. The population is a student who graduates from a Colorado high school and enrolls as an undergraduate. A scholarship offered by one college, a private foundation award, a federal program and a graduate-only award are all out of scope. A value the agency's own page does not state is left blank rather than filled from elsewhere, and a page that could not be read drops every figure.","question":"What scholarships are available in Colorado?","related":[{"label":"Merit scholarships by college","url":"/merit-scholarships"},{"label":"State scholarships in every state","url":"/research/state-scholarships-every-state"},{"label":"High schools in Colorado","url":"/research/high-schools-in-colorado"},{"label":"Scholarship deadlines","url":"/research/scholarship-deadlines-2027"}],"sections":[{"h2":"How to read a state scholarship","paragraphs":["State awards come in two shapes. A merit award asks about grades, a course list, or a test score, and it does not care what a family earns. A need-based award asks about income and assets through the FAFSA, and it does not care about grades. Some awards ask about both, and the table calls those merit and need.","The deadline column is the one families miss. For most need-based state aid the deadline is really the FAFSA deadline, and it falls months before a college asks for a decision. A merit award more often has no application at all: the state or the high school nominates the student from records it already holds."]},{"h2":"What a family should do with this","paragraphs":["Open the official page in the last column for the one or two programs your student plausibly qualifies for, and write down two dates: the state aid deadline and the FAFSA deadline. Those are the two that close. In Colorado the earliest date on this table is the one to put on the calendar first.","Then look past the state. A state award is usually the smaller half of an offer. The college's own merit grid and its net price for your family income move more money than any state program on this page, and both are published."]}],"slug":"scholarships-in-colorado","sources":[{"label":"Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE)","url":"https://cdhe.colorado.gov/"},{"label":"Colorado Promise","url":"https://cdhe.colorado.gov/students/preparing-for-college/colorado-promise/student-eligibility"},{"label":"Colorado Student Grant (CSG)","url":"https://cdhe.colorado.gov/sites/highered/files/2025-26%20Guidelines%20for%20Administering%20State%20Funded%20Student%20Assistance%20Programs.pdf"}],"tables":[{"columns":[{"fmt":"str","key":"program","label":"Program"},{"fmt":"str","key":"kind","label":"Merit or need"},{"fmt":"str","key":"award","label":"What it pays"},{"fmt":"str","key":"gpa","label":"GPA it asks for"},{"fmt":"str","key":"test","label":"Test score it asks for"},{"fmt":"str","key":"who","label":"Who qualifies"},{"fmt":"str","key":"deadline","label":"Deadline"},{"fmt":"str","key":"renewable","label":"Renewable"},{"fmt":"url","key":"source","label":"Official page"}],"h2":"Every state scholarship in Colorado","intro":"Read the row, then open the state's own page before you count on a figure.","note":"Every row is a state-funded or state-administered award for a Colorado high school graduate going to an undergraduate program, as of October 2026. A scholarship from a single college, a private foundation award, a federal program and a graduate-only award are all left out. A blank cell means the state's own page does not state it. Dollar figures and GPA floors change every year.","rows":[{"award":"up to two years, or 65 credits, of college paid for at any public postsecondary institution in Colorado","deadline":"submit the FAFSA or CASFA before January 15 each year","gpa":"2.5 or higher term GPA each semester to continue receiving the award","kind":"State award","program":"Colorado Promise","renewable":"renews each semester if the student completes at least 6 credits with a term GPA of 2.5 or higher and has fewer than 66 cumulative college credits","source":"https://cdhe.colorado.gov/students/preparing-for-college/colorado-promise/student-eligibility","test":"","who":"must qualify for in-state Colorado tuition; must complete high school (or GED) after January 1, 2024, or already have been enrolled in a Colorado public college in fall 2024; must start attending within two academic years of high school graduation; complete the FAFSA or CASFA every year, before January 15; begin each semester with fewer than 66 completed college credits; complete at least 6 credits each semester"},{"award":"a need-based grant; public and non-profit institutions award funds under their own institutional policy within the student's financial need; students at proprietary institutions are awarded within set levels of $300 to $5,000 (the page describes the 2025-26 award year)","deadline":"","gpa":"","kind":"Need-based","program":"Colorado Student Grant (CSG)","renewable":"","source":"https://cdhe.colorado.gov/sites/highered/files/2025-26%20Guidelines%20for%20Administering%20State%20Funded%20Student%20Assistance%20Programs.pdf","test":"","who":"Colorado resident; demonstrate financial need via the FAFSA (federal methodology Student Aid Index); must meet general state financial-aid student-eligibility rules (citizenship/immigration status, good academic standing)"}]},{"columns":[{"fmt":"str","key":"program","label":"Program"},{"fmt":"str","key":"award","label":"What it pays"},{"fmt":"str","key":"detail","label":"What the page says"},{"fmt":"url","key":"source","label":"Official page"}],"h2":"Other programs the state names","intro":"The agency's own page lists these too. Where its page gives no award figure, the row carries the name and the link only.","note":"These rows come from the Colorado agency's own index of programs. A blank award means that index does not state one, not that the program pays nothing.","rows":[{"award":"","detail":"Need-based, for a Colorado resident enrolled as an undergraduate at a Colorado public college","program":"Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative","source":"https://cdhe.colorado.gov/students/preparing-for-college/colorado-opportunity-scholarship-initiative"}]}],"title":"Scholarships in Colorado: the 3 state programs and what each asks for","updated":null,"url":"https://highschoolreach.com/research/scholarships-in-colorado"}