Colorado has 19 private and 23 public 4-year colleges that enroll 27,715 first-year students yearly. The average tuition of public colleges is $18,723 for in-state students and $30,862 for out-of-state and international students.

Private colleges in Colorado charge around $36,421 per year in tuition regardless of residency.

In the 2021-2022 academic year, Colorado provided $29 million in financial aid to 6,901 students who enrolled in 4-year colleges for the first time as undergraduates. In addition, the colleges themselves awarded $153.4 million in grants and scholarships to 16,230 students.

Colorado receives 2.5% of the total pell grant the federal government allocates. In the 2021-2022 academic year, 8,803 4-year college first-year undergraduates were awarded a total amount of $44.6 million in pell grant ($5,039 per student on average), and 11,336 students received a total amount of $59.2 million in the form of student loans from the federal government ($6,600 per student on average).