Colorado FAFSA deadline
Colorado sets no statewide FAFSA deadline, and that is by design rather than an oversight. The date that governs your state aid is set by your college, so it differs from school to school. The 2027-2028 FAFSA is in beta testing now and will be available to everyone by October 1, 2026. What decides whether you actually get Colorado money is explained below.
How does Colorado actually hand out state aid?
Colorado deliberately delegates deadline-setting to campuses. State policy quotes the statute requiring each institution to run financial assistance under its own governing board's rules, and explicitly recognises campus application deadlines as appropriate. The state sends each college a lump allocation; once a campus has committed it, a later applicant can still qualify on paper and receive nothing.
When should you file the FAFSA in Colorado?
| What | When | Award year |
|---|---|---|
| 2027-2028 FAFSA opens | By October 1, 2026 | 2027-2028 |
| Colorado state aid deadline | Check with your financial aid office | 2026-2027 |
| Federal deadline | June 30, 2027, 11:59 p.m. Central time | 2026-2027 |
| Your college's priority date | Varies by school, often earlier than the state's | Ask your aid office |
Read that table with the award year in mind. The Colorado and federal dates shown are for the 2026-2027 cycle, which is the year already under way. If you are applying for aid to start in autumn 2027, the cycle that matters to you is 2027-2028, and most states publish those dates in the autumn and winter.
What financial aid does Colorado offer?
| Program | Deadline | Award year | How it works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado Need-based Awards (Student Grant and Graduate Grant) | None published | 2026-2027 | No state deadline exists because the state does not award the money. Colleges award it under their own policies. Ask your campus for its date. |
| Dependent Tuition Assistance Program (DTAP) | March 1 to June 30 | recurring window, no year named on the page | The one Colorado program with a firm statewide window. For dependents of law enforcement, firefighters and National Guard members killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty, and of POW/MIA service members. |
| Colorado Application for State Financial Aid (CASFA) | None published | 2026-2027 | The state aid application for students who cannot file a FAFSA, including undocumented students. Opens October 1; no closing date published. |
| COSI Second Chance Scholarship | None published | STALE: table still shows Fall 2025 | Up to $5,000 a year for Coloradans released from a Division of Youth Services facility in the past five years. Serves a vulnerable group and the state's deadline table has not been updated past Fall 2025. Link to the portal rather than quoting dates. |
The authority here is the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE), which publishes the current rules at https://cdhe.colorado.gov/. Deadlines and award amounts change every year, so check there before relying on any figure on this page.
One thing to watch out for in Colorado
If you are looking at the Second Chance Scholarship, note that the deadline table on the state's page has not been updated past autumn 2025. Apply through the COSI portal and check the dates there rather than relying on the table.
What happens if you miss the Colorado deadline?
That depends on your college, because your college sets the date. Two schools in Colorado can have priority deadlines months apart, so the only reliable answer comes from your own financial aid office. Ask them two things: their priority date for institutional aid, and whether any state programs they administer have an earlier cutoff of their own.
The flat truth on the Colorado FAFSA deadline
The absence of a deadline is not permission to wait, it is the opposite. In Colorado the money is the deadline: it goes to whoever filed first, and when a campus has committed its allocation a later applicant can still qualify on paper and receive nothing. File as soon as the form opens, then ask your college for its own priority date.
See also: FAFSA deadlines by state and the FAFSA deadline tracker.
Sources
- Colorado deadline guidance
- Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE)
- US Department of Education, Federal Student Aid: FAFSA deadlines (2026-2027 award year)
- Federal Student Aid: 2027-2028 FAFSA availability
- State deadline data reviewed August 30, 2026 for the 2026-2027 award year. Deadlines change every year. Confirm against your state agency and studentaid.gov before relying on any date here.