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College Fund encourages students to apply
The University of Colorado is preparing to implement the College Opportunity
Fund in fall 2005 and has begun notifying students about the program at campuses
in Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs.
The College Opportunity Fund, or COF, is a statewide program required under
Senate Bill 04-189 that establishes a new way for Colorado to provide tax
support for higher education at the undergraduate level. With implementation of
COF, Colorado will no longer appropriate money to colleges and universities for
undergraduate education but will provide funding for undergraduates through COF.
The program also is known as "vouchers" or "stipends."
CU continuing students should apply to COF before April, prior to the beginning
of fall 2005 registration, by going online at https://cof.college-access.net/cofapp/.
The process is easy and takes less than 3 minutes to complete.
Starting in fall 2005, provided that an undergraduate in-state student applies
for and authorizes use of the voucher, COF vouchers will be applied to the
student's university bill. While the student's required financial contribution
will not decrease as a result of the program, the student will be able to see
the state's investment in his or her education on the university bill.
Preparation for implementation of COF has been taking place at CU since last
April. CU-Boulder and CU-Denver distributed information on COF in December
tuition mailings to currently enrolled students. The Colorado Springs campus
will begin undergraduate tuition mailings including COF information in early
February.
Each of the three campuses also sent student e-memos on the program, which were
issued Nov. 8-9. CU will continue its outreach effort to get continuing and new
CU students to apply to the College Opportunity Fund throughout the spring and
summer.
CU also is making required changes to its student information system to track
COF hours and is modifying registration, billing and financial aid processes and
programs in preparation for fall 2005 implementation. Staff training in key
business offices will begin in spring 2005, before students begin registering
for the fall 2005 term.
The Colorado Commission on Higher Education and College Access Network are
providing policy guidelines and technical specifications on COF.
For more information about the College Opportunity Fund and CU's implementation
of the program, visit these Web sites:
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