Colorado Foster Care Success Act: Education Benefits for Foster Youth

When a teenager in foster care talks about going to college, one of the first practical questions is: who pays for it? For young people who have grown up in stable families with parents who could save, plan, and co-sign FAFSA forms, the answer is complicated enough. For foster youth who may have aged out of the system without biological family support, the question can feel unanswerable.

Colorado has addressed this directly. The Foster Care Success Act, combined with additional state programs, provides meaningful education benefits for current and former foster youth — including tuition waivers at public institutions, priority access to financial aid, and supports designed to help foster youth complete degrees rather than simply enroll.

What the Colorado Foster Care Success Act Provides

The Foster Care Success Act — part of Colorado's broader "Fostering Opportunities" initiative — established tuition waivers for foster youth attending Colorado public colleges and universities. The key provisions:

Tuition waiver at public institutions. Eligible foster youth can attend any Colorado public two-year or four-year institution with a significant reduction or elimination of tuition costs. The waiver is administered through the institution in coordination with CDHS, and eligibility is based on age, foster care history, and enrollment status.

Age eligibility. The waiver is available to young people who were in foster care in Colorado at age 16 or older and are under age 26 when they enroll or continue enrollment. Young people who aged out of care, were adopted from foster care after age 16, or were placed in a guardianship arrangement also typically qualify.

Priority financial aid processing. Colorado has implemented processes at the state financial aid level (COSI — Colorado Student Grant) to ensure foster youth receive priority consideration and that financial aid packages account for the lack of parental financial support that FAFSA calculations typically assume.

Education and training vouchers (ETVs). Through federal funding administered by CDHS, foster youth and former foster youth can access Education and Training Vouchers worth up to several thousand dollars annually for higher education expenses not covered by other aid — including books, fees, transportation, and housing.

School Stability During Foster Care: The Education Rights Picture

The education benefits for foster youth don't start at college. They begin with school stability protections during placement, which directly affect the children in your care as a foster parent.

School of origin. Colorado follows the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requirement that foster children have the right to remain enrolled in their school of origin — the school they were attending before removal — regardless of whether their foster placement falls in a different school district. Transportation to that school must be arranged and funded. This is one of the most significant protections for educational continuity, and it is a right you as a foster parent should be prepared to advocate for.

Immediate enrollment. When a child enters foster care, they must be immediately enrolled in school even if records from the previous school have not yet transferred. The receiving school cannot delay enrollment due to missing immunization records, birth certificates, or other documentation.

Education liaison. Every Colorado school district that has foster children enrolled is required to have a foster care education liaison — a designated staff member responsible for coordinating enrollment, record transfer, and access to services for children in foster care. This person is your contact point when navigating school-related issues during a placement.

Partial credits. If a foster youth has moved between schools and accumulated credits that do not transfer cleanly under the new school's curriculum requirements, Colorado school districts are required to accept partial credits and apply them toward graduation requirements. Students should not be penalized academically for placement instability that was not their choice.

What Foster Parents Should Do to Support Education

As a licensed foster parent, you are legally part of the child welfare team and are expected to advocate for the children in your care. On education issues, that means:

• Making contact with the school's foster care education liaison early in a placement
• Confirming that the child's school of origin rights have been honored, or that an intentional decision has been made to enroll them locally with appropriate documentation
• Attending school meetings and court hearings where educational progress is discussed — you have the right to be heard in these proceedings after the child has been in your home for 90 days
• Knowing the deadline dates for Educational and Training Voucher applications for older youth

For teenagers approaching 18 who are in your care, having a direct conversation about the Foster Care Success Act's tuition waiver — what it covers, how to apply, and what it means for their options — is one of the most valuable conversations you can have. Many foster youth do not know these benefits exist until they have already aged out and missed the window to take advantage of them.

Extended Foster Care and Continued Education

Colorado's extended foster care program allows youth to remain connected to foster care services up to age 21, provided they meet one of several participation criteria — which include enrollment in secondary or post-secondary education, employment, or participation in a program designed to remove barriers to employment.

Enrollment in college while in extended foster care means continued access to the support systems, Medicaid coverage under Health First Colorado, and housing assistance that extended care provides. This is worth discussing actively with teenagers in your care who are approaching 18: aging out is a choice in Colorado, not an automatic cutoff.

Where to Get More Information

CDHS administers these programs and publishes updated information through the "Fostering Opportunities" initiative. The CO4Kids platform is the starting point for navigating youth services. The CDHS Foster Care Education page (cdhs.colorado.gov) includes current tuition waiver eligibility guidelines, ETV application information, and contact information for the state's education liaison network.

The Colorado Foster Care Licensing Guide covers the full landscape of benefits and supports for foster families and foster youth — including education rights during placement, the tuition waiver program, and how to advocate effectively for the children in your care throughout their school years.

A Note on Why This Matters

Research on adult outcomes for former foster youth is consistent and sobering: people who age out of foster care without completing post-secondary education or vocational training face significantly worse outcomes across income, housing stability, and health metrics than their peers. The Foster Care Success Act is Colorado's recognition that the state's responsibility does not end when a young person turns 18 — it extends through the years when education determines the arc of their adult life.

As a foster parent, especially one caring for teenagers, you are in a position to change what happens after the system ends. Knowing what's available — and making sure the young people in your care know it too — is part of that.

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