Student Financial Services

Frequently Asked Questions

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Applying for Aid

There are two reasons this requirement is triggered. (1) You reported on your FAFSA or CSS Profile application that you, the student, filed a 2025 federal tax return and/or (2) For returning CC students - you received a taxable scholarship and grant income that required you file a federal tax return.

On the FAFSA or CSS Profile application you reported that you, the student, earned taxed wages during 2025.

Colorado College expects both parents to contribute to a student's college expenses. On the CSS Profile you reported that your parents are not married. 

For more information on how to complete this requirement, visit the CSS Profile webpage for divorced or separated parents. 

If your requirement checklist displays a custom requirement document please first check your (the student's) personal and/or CC email account (as applicable) for a clarification email from the CC Financial Aid Office.  If you have not received a recent email from the financial aid office regarding specific missing requirements, please contact our office directly for more information.

If your requirement checklist displays a clarification email "document" please first check your (the student's) personal and/or CC email account (as applicable) for an email from the CC Financial Aid Office requesting answers to clarifying questions.  If you have not received a recent email from the financial aid office regarding clarifying questions, please contact our office directly for more information

Your FAFSA Application is being federally rejected for financial aid packaging. Please review your FAFSA Submission Summary by loggin into StudentAid.gov for more information and guidance related to resolving the rejection.

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Disbursement & Enrollment

Yes, every student must complete the check-in process through Self Service Banner the week prior to their first class. The process is not open until then, so this cannot be completed early. Aid cannot disburse until this process is completed online. For further questions on the check-in process, please contact the Registrar's Office at registrar@coloradocollege.edu.

Aid will disburse the first week you attend class in a semester as long as you have completed the check-in process through Self Service Banner. If you do not attend Block 1, your aid will remain estimated until you begin Block 2 or the first block you are enrolled in. For further questions regarding the disbursement of aid, please contact Financial Aid at financialaid@coloradocollege.edu.

Loans will disburse directly to your student account at the same time as your grants/scholarships, only after you have completed the online check-in through Banner Self Service and completed the entrance counseling and master promissory note found at www.studentaid.gov. If your accepted grant and loan aid exceeds your direct charges, the remaining funds will be refunded on the standard refund schedule through Student Accounts.

We adhere to the principle that paying for college is a partnership between the parent(s)/guardian, the student, and the College. All funding is combined to meet the full cost of attendance and grant dollars from the College are applied after the family contribution and student self-help. The 1098-T form that is sent to you at the end of the year will show, however, all grants toward tuition first, as this is an IRS requirement. This does not mean we look at it that way as a college, but must be federally compliant.

If you choose to drop a course, whether it is taught online or in person, you may be considered a withdrawn student per federal regulations unless you return to class within 30 days during the same semester. If you are a student who chooses to drop courses and this adjusts your enrollment status below full time (3 units between Block 1 and 4, or 3 units between Block 5 and 8), then your aid will need to be adjusted to less than full time and this will affect your bill. For some, this may reduce what you owe or create a larger balance. For those who have received any refund, you may owe a portion of it back immediately.

If a student chooses not to attend the fall or spring semester, they will be reported to student loan lenders as enrolled at least half-time for the fall semester. This means that any loans that have been borrowed previously will go into repayment. Federal Direct student loans offer a 6 six-month grace period after a student is no longer enrolled at least half-time before they go into repayment status. Please pay attention to any attempts by your loan servicer(s) to contact you.

  • You can find out who your loan servicer(s) is/are by logging into the National Student Loan Data System. Once you are again enrolled at least half-time in classes at CC your loans should go back to deferred status. Please contact the CC Registrar's office at registrar@coloradocollege.edu if you have questions about the reporting of your enrollment status to your loan servicer(s).
  • Students will also have their aid adjusted to what their actual enrollment represents. For students who expect to use financial aid to help pay for room and board while they are not in class, this is not an option. Financial aid is based on enrollment in the class, so if this is a concern, students should plan to enroll in classes.
  • For further questions regarding taking time off, please contact Financial Aid at financialaid@coloradocollege.edu.

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Financial Aid & Housing

The Office of Financial Aid recommends you reach out to the CC Housing office at housing@coloradocollege.edu to inquire about your housing charge. Once the Housing office has submitted your updated charges the Office of Student Accounts will adjust your charges. Once those two steps are complete, the Office of Financial Aid is then able to determine your financial aid eligibility.

Because the cost of attendance will not be adjusted in this scenario a student's financial aid will not be adjusted. Charges for housing will be adjusted by the CC Student Accounts Office based on how much a student utilizes campus housing options and meal plans during the semester. If a student's total accepted grant, scholarship, and/or loan awards exceed their CC charges for the semester they will receive a refund of financial aid.

Advances can be issued to students who are due a refund from their financial aid for the semester. For students who need to have part of their funds (up to $1,000) prior to the start of class to help pay for expenses, you can request an advance from the Financial Aid Office. Advances are not possible until 30 days prior to your first registered class. If you choose to drop your first block after an advance, please note that it will be due back to the college. An advance will reduce your remaining refund eligibility for the semester. For further questions regarding advances of aid, please contact Financial Aid at financialaid@coloradocollege.edu.

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Billing

All students at CC are assigned a student account to track campus fees. Tuition, housing, meal plan, health insurance premium (if applicable) and other miscellaneous fees are posted to the student account. Payments made toward campus fees are shown as credits on your student account. If you receive a financial aid award, the funds are credited to the student account.

Please remember:
- Work study may be part of your financial aid award, but this amount is not credited to the student account. Work study is an on campus job for which you receive a paycheck.
- Financial aid awards and loans are not posted until all appropriate paperwork, correspondence and online check-in each semester is completed.

CC DOES NOT mail paper bills. Fall semester billing statements will be available online via our online billing site at the beginning of August and the beginning of January for the spring semester. Please make sure that you are registered on the online billing site. Once you have logged in to the billing/payment portal email notifications will be sent when a bill is ready to be viewed online.

Monthly statements are typically created around the 10th of each month and are available online. If you have an unpaid balance you will receive an email notification. You can access ALL bills (current and past) online via our online billing site.

The balance forward reflects charges that have been previously billed and have not yet been paid.

No. Credit and debit card payments are not accepted for student account balances.

We automatically refund credit balances to students for excess financial aid. Credit balance refunds are sent to the student at their on-campus box (located in the mail services office) or by direct deposit (if student has completed the official paperwork). Students who would like their credit balance to remain on their student account or sent to another payee or address, please contact studentaccounts@coloradocollege.edu. To ensure the refund is completed accurately, please notify our office during the first week of school for each semester.  Students who have not set up direct deposit, should contact the Accounts Payable office at 719-389-6782 to complete the required documentation.

For credit balance refunds due to overpayment, please email studentaccounts@coloradocollege.edu to request refund.  Automate refunds will not apply to overpayments or adjustment reductions.

Due to FERPA regulations, students are held accountable for all aspects of their student account. Students will receive all written and email correspondence from the billing office at their CC email account. If you do not wish to receive this correspondence, please notify the Student Accounts Office in writing at studentaccounts@coloradocollege.edu.

Student address changes should be communicated in writing to the Registrar's Office at registrar@coloradocollege.edu.

Parent address changes should be communicated in writing to the Alumni Office at alumni@coloradocollege.edu.

  • Payment in full or
  • Internal payment plan option. Click on the tuition payment plan link in the menu at the top of this page for more information on specific enrollment and due dates.
  • You may also contact the Student Accounts Office for more information, Please call 719-389-6698 or email studentaccounts@coloradocollege.edu.

No. We do not offer payment plans for summer balances.

Student account balances that are not paid by the deadlines will result in the student being placed on financial suspension. Suspension requires a leave of absence from the college, which includes dropping courses and housing assignment for the upcoming semester.  Please reference CC's Financial Obligations for more information.

No. Once money is paid to the Gold Card Plus account, the money remains on this account until you leave the college. If you do not use all the Gold Card Plus funds in one semester, these dollars will roll over to the next semester.

Yes. Please contact the Student Accounts Office.

Yes. Please contact the Financial Aid Office to begin the process of receiving a credit that has not yet posted to your account. Please call 719-389-6651 or email financialaid@coloradocollege.edu.

Some examples of miscellaneous charges are: library fines, traffic fines, music lessons, dorm damage, health service fees, etc.

Please contact the department for which the charge was originated. The Student Accounts office posts fees at the request of departments across campus and cannot remove or waive those fees without direction from those departments. We can only direct you to the appropriate office so you can ask about the fee in question.

No. Please refer to CC's tuition policy for details.

Three (3) units per semester.

You may receive a tuition refund if you drop below full-time status. You must obtain written permission from the Student Opportunities and Advising Hub (the Hub) and complete the form for a leave of absence. You may refer to the Student Time Off Policy for other details.

You may submit an appeal for an exemption from the tuition policy. You must submit, in writing, the details of your circumstances and explain why you should be granted an exemption. Contact Campus Appeals, to submit your request. The decision will be made either by the Dean of Students Office or the Tuition Review Committee. The committee will review your appeal and notify you of their decision. The committee's decision is final.

Under Colorado College's Home School Tuition policy for off-campus study, Colorado College tuition is billed to your student account for all off-campus semester programs, in lieu of the program's tuition. Most off-campus semester programs also charge a program fee (which usually covers room, sometimes board, field trips, etc). The program fee is determined by the partner program or university, and varies by location and program chosen. The program fee is charged to your student account, in lieu of on-campus room and board at CC. Please see complete information on the Billing & Finances page for the Center for Global Education & Field Study, and contact them if you have additional questions. Their office can be reached at globaleducation@coloradocollege.edu, by phone at 719-389-6077, or visit them in Armstrong Hall, rooms 213-218.

Yes. Normally airfare is in addition to tuition & program fee, and there may be other travel expenses as well. Please use the Cost & Aid Calculation Worksheet available on the Global Education Billing & Finances page to help you calculate the total cost of attendance for the study abroad semester you will be participating in, and give you an idea of which costs may need to be budgeted for out of pocket.

Yes. Please contact the Financial Aid Office for more information at 719-389-6651 or email financialaid@coloradocollege.edu for more information.

Yes. The CC student health insurance is optional provided the student has coverage through another source. ALL students attending Colorado College must have health insurance coverage.

Families are required to either enroll or waive the college health plan every year. Waivers and enrollments are completed online. Please visit the Student Health Center page for details.

Student health insurance information and waiver/enrollment instructions will be mailed to the student's home address in June.

Important reminder: All enrollments and waivers must be completed by July 30th for fall semester and December 30th for spring semester. Health insurance premiums are billed by semester. The fees for 2026-2027 are:

  • fall semester $2,081(coverage 8/1/25-12/31/25)
  • spring semester $2,894 (coverage 1/1/26-7/31/26)
  • total yearly fee $4,975

For additional information, please contact wellness@coloradocollege.edu. 

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Meal Plan

All students living on campus are required to purchase a meal plan each semester. The only exceptions are for students living in off-campus housing, cottage housing, and Synergy House. All students living in traditional halls, small houses, and language houses are required to be on the FULL MEAL PLAN, and students living in student apartments, East Campus apartments, and fraternities are required to be on the APARTMENT MEAL PLAN. Click here to view more detail about meal plans.

  • The meal plan per semester cost plus the infrastructure fee is charged to each student's account along with their tuition and housing costs for that semester.
  • Your Gold Card is loaded with the meal plan dollars allocated for your specific meal plan prior to your arrival on campus. An infrastructure fee of $350 per semester is part of the meal plan expense and is non-refundable. This fee is used for the purchase of cooking equipment, supplies, and improvements to the kitchens and serving areas.
  • When a student uses a Gold Card for meals, the card reader will identify whether the student is on the full meal plan or the apartment meal plan based on the amounts loaded onto the card. If the cost of a meal is $8.25, the system deducts that amount from the meal plan dollars that the student has received on the Gold Card. Deductions from the re-loaded meal plan dollars continue as the student makes additional meal purchases.

To summarize, the meal plan expense (what you paid for the meal plan) is charged to your student account. The actual dollars you receive from this plan are loaded to your Gold Card and tracked in Student Link. This is a different software system than your student account. Meal plan money is deducted with each sales transaction and tracked separately from your student account.

Tiger Bucks is the meal plan dollars allocated for each plan. This is the same as your meal plan dollars. One Tiger Buck equals $1.00.

Tiger Bucks can be used at all on-campus restaurants (Rastall, Benjamin's, The Preserve, Local Goods, Colorado Coffee, Susie B's, The Picnic Box, and Taste Restaurant at the FAC). 

No. Although the bookstore does carry food, they do not accept Tiger Bucks as a form of payment. However, they will accept Gold Card Plus funds.

Yes. Tiger Bucks from the fall semester will carry over to the spring semester. A new meal plan for the spring semester will be added to the student's Gold Card. All Tiger Bucks expire at the end of the spring semester.  Please refer to "meal plans" for detailed information regarding meal plan rollovers.

Tiger Bucks is the Gold Card dollars loaded for each meal plan. If you are utilizing a meal plan, you have Tiger Bucks loaded on your Gold Card.

Students can only use Gold Card Plus if they have pre-funded their card. To pre-fund your Gold Card, go to Student Link via Single Sign In. Click on Gold Card Management. Gold Card Plus funds can be used at the CC bookstore, Mail Services, Campus Safety, FAC, and Outdoor Recreation Center.  It is also accepted at a few off campus locations.

Yes, please email the Student Accounts office at studentaccounts@coloradocollege.edu or visit us in Spencer Center, 1st Floor, Suite #116.

The meal plan expense is charged to your student account and is paid along with the tuition and room fees owed for the semester. Please visit this page to see the list of payment methods. The meal plan cost should reflect on your fall invoice/billing statement, which can be viewed online in early August for the fall semester and early January for the spring semester.

Go to Student Link via Single Sign In. Click on Gold Card Management tab. A student may authorize their parents to view their meal plan activity via the Student Link site.

You must request a leave of absence (LOA) through the Student Opportunities & Advising Hub. Please check with that office for deadlines. All LOAs must be requested and approved prior to the absence. Refunds are given on a case-by-case basis and are not guaranteed.

Please ensure that you have been approved for your Study Abroad program.

  • If your program is a full semester there will be no meal plan expense.
  • If your program is a half-semester you will be charged for and expected to pay for a full semester meal plan based on your housing assignment. 
  • If you are going abroad for one block you will be charged for and expected to pay for a full semester meal plan based on your housing assignment. One block of your meal plan will be refunded to you a week prior to your departure date to be used for travel expenses. If you do not have the equivalent of one block we will refund what you have available at that time.  If you do not have a meal plan, no refund will be issued.

Reach out to Accessibilities Resources, Housing & Residential Experience or Chaplain's Office.

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Student Employment/Work Study

No, due to varying state tax laws students are unable to work remotely after block 1 if they do not reside in the state of Colorado.

Students are able to work remotely if residing within the state of Colorado. Students must present documentation to their supervisor(s) of their residence. Most commonly produced documents will be state ID, utility bills in the student's name, lease agreement, or some other form of documentation showing their residence.

Students will search and apply for student employment jobs through Handshake. Handshake is accessed through the Single Sign On page. 

Your work-study award is based on Blocks 1-8. Summer employment is different.

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Additional Resources

Report an issue - Last updated: 07/13/2026