College Opportunity Fund (COF)

Students must meet all of the below-listed criteria to qualify:

• Undergraduate student pursuing an undergraduate degree or undergraduate program
• Classified as a Colorado resident*
• Admitted and enrolled at a Colorado public institution (CU Denver) or a participating private institution

For more information about COF, visit the College Opportunity Fund Website.

* If you are not currently classified as a Colorado resident, please refer to our website regarding the petition process.​​

• You only need to apply for COF once
• Go to the COF Application website
• When applying for COF, enter the following information. Information entered must match your CU Denver record. If the information you enter isn’t an exact match, your COF account will NOT link to your CU Denver account*.
• Name
• Date of Birth
• Social Security Number**
• Once your application has been processed (48-72 hours after submission), you’ll be able to authorize your COF in your UCDAccess Portal.

* Please refer to the COF Troubleshooting section below for more information

** If you included your Social Security Number on your Admissions Application, you must include it on your COF application

• Log into your UCDAccess Portal
• In your "Student Center", select "Student Account"
• Click "COF Authorization/Review"
• Follow the instructions to authorize or edit the College Opportunity Fund
• It is recommended you select Lifetime Authorization (funds are automatically applied each semester, and only needs to be selected once)
• Finally, click on Submit in the bottom right corner

You can check your COF Balance to see how many COF hours you've used through this area of your UCDAccess portal or through the account you created on the COF website.

• Log in to your UCDAccess Portal
• In "Student Center", select "Academics"
• Click on COF Authorization/Review.
• If you have previously authorized your COF, you will be able to view the “Total Hours Used” towards your COF balance

You can check your COF Balance to see how many COF hours you have used through this process or through the account you created on the COF website.

CU Denver students who are pursuing an Undergraduate Degree or Undergraduate Program are eligible to receive COF. The following CU Denver programs’ courses are not eligible for COF, regardless of when you register for them:

• Non-degree graduate and graduate degree seeking programs
• CU Succeed program
• Continuing education programs courses added after the census date will not be eligible to receive the COF stipend, even if it is a COF eligible course. To determine the census date, please refer to the academic calendar

If you applied for COF and are unable to authorize the COF stipend in your student portal, please verify the following information.

• You are either a degree seeking undergraduate students or a non-degree seeking undergraduate student.
• You have been classified as a resident student at the University of Colorado Denver. Your residency is set by the Admissions Office when you submit your application. If you have not received in-state residency status, please review the petition process.
• You are enrolled in courses that are COF Eligible. See the Course Eligibility and Late-Added Classes section of this website for more information.
• You have waited at least 72 hours after you created/applied for COF through the COF website, prior to trying to authorize COF in the student portal.

If you authorized your COF through your student portal, but see that your eligibility is showing as revoked, please verify these items.

The following information must be an exact match between your student portal and COF account:

• Name
• Date of Birth
• Social Security Number or COF assigned ID number (this will not display in your portal)

If the items above do not match/are mismatched, please fill out the Name and Record Update Request Form with the required supporting documentation. Once the form and supporting documents are received, please allow up to 10 business days for processing, and for your student portal and your COF account to be connected together.

You must have remaining COF Hours available and have not exceeded the 145 Maximum Lifetime Credit Hour Limit.

If you have exceeded the credit hour limit, you will need to complete a COF Waiver Form to obtain a Lifetime Limit Extension.

If you have already completed and were previously granted a Lifetime Limit Extension, you will need to complete a Colorado Commission on Higher Education Waiver.