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Colorado State scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$35,722per year · 2025-26 · ResidentNon-resident $58,949
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

Colorado State is worth checking if your student has strong grades or scores. We found 7 published awards, and 7 are based on those numbers.

Where does your student land?

Verified Jul 2026
4 school sources to explore

Published rules, with the school sources close at hand. Confirm the details before you count on an award.

The award collection

Published scholarships

These amounts and requirements come from the school’s own published pages. Open an award to see who qualifies and how to keep it.

Where does your student land?

  1. Green & Gold (non-resident) — 4.0+$16,000 per year (covers ~44% of tuition/fees)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Green & Gold (non-resident) — 4.0+

    $16,000 per year (covers ~44% of tuition/fees)

    Published coverage or packageAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    4
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Green & Gold (non-resident) — 4.0+

    Who qualifies

    Non-resident. Automatically considered from the admission application; no separate scholarship application.

    How to keep it

    Maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA and Satisfactory Academic Progress; up to 8 semesters or degree completion, whichever comes first.

  2. Green & Gold (non-resident) — 3.80–3.99$12,000 per year (~33% of tuition/fees)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Green & Gold (non-resident) — 3.80–3.99

    $12,000 per year (~33% of tuition/fees)

    Published coverage or packageAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    3.8
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Green & Gold (non-resident) — 3.80–3.99

    Who qualifies

    Non-resident, GPA 3.80–3.99. Automatic from admission application.

    How to keep it

    3.0 cumulative GPA and SAP; up to 8 semesters.

  3. Green & Gold (non-resident) — 3.60–3.79$10,000 per year (~28% of tuition/fees)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Green & Gold (non-resident) — 3.60–3.79

    $10,000 per year (~28% of tuition/fees)

    Published coverage or packageAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    3.6
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Green & Gold (non-resident) — 3.60–3.79

    Who qualifies

    Non-resident, GPA 3.60–3.79. Automatic from admission application.

    How to keep it

    3.0 cumulative GPA and SAP; up to 8 semesters.

  4. Green & Gold (non-resident) — 3.40–3.59$8,000 per year (~22% of tuition/fees)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Green & Gold (non-resident) — 3.40–3.59

    $8,000 per year (~22% of tuition/fees)

    Published coverage or packageAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    3.4
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Green & Gold (non-resident) — 3.40–3.59

    Who qualifies

    Non-resident, GPA 3.40–3.59. Automatic from admission application.

    How to keep it

    3.0 cumulative GPA and SAP; up to 8 semesters.

  5. Green & Gold (non-resident) — 3.30–3.39$6,000 per year (~17% of tuition/fees)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Green & Gold (non-resident) — 3.30–3.39

    $6,000 per year (~17% of tuition/fees)

    Published coverage or packageAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    3.3
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Green & Gold (non-resident) — 3.30–3.39

    Who qualifies

    Non-resident, GPA 3.30–3.39. Automatic from admission application.

    How to keep it

    3.0 cumulative GPA and SAP; up to 8 semesters.

  6. Green & Gold (non-resident) — 3.20–3.29$4,000 per year (~11% of tuition/fees)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Green & Gold (non-resident) — 3.20–3.29

    $4,000 per year (~11% of tuition/fees)

    Published coverage or packageAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    3.2
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Green & Gold (non-resident) — 3.20–3.29

    Who qualifies

    Non-resident, GPA 3.20–3.29 (the non-resident floor). Automatic from admission application.

    How to keep it

    3.0 cumulative GPA and SAP; up to 8 semesters.

  7. Green & Gold (Colorado resident)$2,500–$4,000 per year ($10,000–$16,000 over four years)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Green & Gold (Colorado resident)

    $2,500–$4,000 per year ($10,000–$16,000 over four years)

    Published rangeAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    3.8
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Green & Gold (Colorado resident)

    Who qualifies

    Colorado resident with a 3.8+ GPA on a 4.0 scale. Automatically considered from the admission application; no separate application.

    How to keep it

    Maintain a 3.0 GPA and Satisfactory Academic Progress; up to 8 semesters or degree completion.

Lights up against Colorado State's published cutoffs. Not an award offer; confirm with the financial aid office.

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What makes Colorado State different

Colorado land-grant flagship whose Green & Gold Scholarship is a fully automatic, GPA-banded grid awarded off the admission application, far more generous for non-residents ($4k–$16k/year) than for Colorado residents ($2.5k–$4k/year).

Merit tiers77 based on grades or scores
First-year students with school awards28%First-year students, CDS 2024-2025
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team

Published academic criteria

Start with the thresholds.

These awards are recorded as automatic on academic criteria. Match the published grades and scores, then check residency, entering year and every additional condition.

  1. Match the published criteria

    Use all requirements together, including residency and the entering class.

  2. Check the application dates

    Confirm the current admission and scholarship deadlines directly with the school.

  3. Know what happens next year

    Check renewal, credit requirements and how other aid affects the award.

The fine print / Three questions to carry forward

Before you count on it.

Does it apply to us? Confirm the entering year, residency and every eligibility condition.

Can we keep it? Check renewal GPA, credits and how long the award lasts.

Can we combine it? Ask how outside scholarships and other school awards change the offer.

Take Colorado State's decision sheet

A printable research summary, source links and room for your questions.

See what could change an award

What families often miss

  1. The Green & Gold ladder is far more generous for non-residents ($4,000–$16,000/year) than for residents ($2,500–$4,000/year), and residents need a 3.8+ GPA to qualify at all versus a 3.2 non-resident floor. The program is designed to offset the higher non-resident tuition.

  2. Green & Gold is considered from the admission application; the fall-start deadline is January 15. Already-admitted students who want to raise their tier with updated credentials (e.g., a higher final GPA) must submit them by March 1.

  3. The non-resident grid is a hard published ladder — a 3.79 GPA gets $10,000/year, but a 3.80 gets $12,000/year. A few hundredths of a point can be worth $2,000/year. It is worth confirming exactly which GPA CSU is using.

See award cutoffs and special programs

Green & Gold Scholarship — CSU's automatic non-resident grid

The Green & Gold Scholarship is Colorado State's automatic merit ladder. For non-residents it runs in six published bands: $16,000/year at a 4.0+, $12,000 at 3.80–3.99, $10,000 at 3.60–3.79, $8,000 at 3.40–3.59, $6,000 at 3.30–3.39, and $4,000 at 3.20–3.29 (the floor). CSU states students do not need a separate application — awards are automatically considered from the admission application. At the top, $16,000 covers about 44% of non-resident tuition and fees. Renewal requires a 3.0 cumulative GPA and Satisfactory Academic Progress, for up to eight semesters. Colorado residents have a separate, smaller ladder ($2,500–$4,000/year, 3.8+ GPA required).

Source

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Out-of-state students with a 3.2+ GPA who want a guaranteed, no-application merit number — the non-resident ladder tops out at $16,000/year for a 4.0+. Colorado residents need a 3.8+ to qualify and receive a smaller award, so the program is most compelling for non-residents.

Cost of attendance$35,722–$58,949 for 2025-26Each bar is the full published cost for that scenario, sized against the highest figure so totals compare at a glance.
Out-of-state, on-campus$58,949
In-state, on-campus$35,722
  • Tuition & fees
  • Housing & food
  • Travel
  • Personal
  • Books

Undergraduate living on-campus. Transportation differs by residency.

Colorado State cost-of-attendance source

Cost and graduation facts

Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Colorado State, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.

Average annual net price by family income at Colorado State, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$13,259
$30,001–$48,000$14,460
$48,001–$75,000$15,905
$75,001–$110,000$21,927
$110,001+$29,763
All income levels (average)$21,279

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
$13,373
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
$34,783
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$21,279

That works out to roughly a 33% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $31,642 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).

Colorado State is a public school; Scorecard's net price figure covers in-state, Title-IV-aid-recipient payers only — there is no comparable federal figure for out-of-state students.

Outcomes for students who enrolled here

Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
67%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
86%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$20,000 (~$212/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$60,543
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
20%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
35%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

Total aid (scholarships, grants, work-study, loans) may not exceed CSU's one-year cost of attendance. When a scholarship causes an over-award, CSU reduces loans first where possible, but may also reduce work-study, non-Pell grants, and/or scholarships if needed.

Per CSU's scholarship FAQ, receiving a scholarship may reduce other financial aid; loans are reduced first if possible, then work-study, grants (excluding Federal Pell), and/or scholarships in accordance with federal and institutional rules. Families banking an outside award on top of a Green & Gold tier should confirm whether it pushes them over the COA cap.

Source

More school data

From the Colorado State Common Data Set 2024-2025:

Merit penetrationHow likely is merit aid here?From Colorado State’s Common Data Set: the share of first-year students who receive institutional merit and the average dollar amount when they do.
28%of admitsget merit
Average award$7,517Covers ~13% of $58,949 cost of attendance

At Colorado State, roughly 1 in 4 first-year admits receive institutional merit aid. The average award is $7,517 — about 13% of total cost.

As filed in Colorado State's CDS Section H2A: of 4,790 first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen, 1,343 had no financial need and received institutional merit (non-need) scholarship or grant aid, averaging $7,517. Across all full-time degree-seeking undergraduates: 4,796 of 24,174, averaging $5,887. Athletic awards are excluded per the CDS definition.

Receive institutional merit28%First-year students, Common Data Set 2024-2025
Average merit award$7,517Across recipients, Common Data Set 2024-2025

Source: Common Data Set 2024-2025 (verified 2026-07-23)

Colorado State merit aid FAQ

  • Is Colorado State's Green & Gold Scholarship automatic?

    Yes. CSU states students 'do not need to complete a separate application for these scholarships, as they are automatically considered based upon the information provided in their application for admission.' The award is determined by your GPA band.

  • How much is the Green & Gold worth for an out-of-state student?

    Non-residents are awarded on a six-band grid: $16,000/year at a 4.0+, down through $12,000 (3.80–3.99), $10,000 (3.60–3.79), $8,000 (3.40–3.59), $6,000 (3.30–3.39), and $4,000 (3.20–3.29). At the top it covers roughly 44% of tuition and fees.

  • What do Colorado residents get?

    Colorado residents with a 3.8+ GPA receive $2,500 to $4,000 per year ($10,000 to $16,000 over four years) — a separate and smaller ladder than the non-resident grid, because resident tuition is already much lower.

  • How do I keep the Green & Gold for four years?

    You must maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA and Satisfactory Academic Progress. The award is available for up to eight semesters, or until your degree is complete, whichever comes first.

See sources and other schools

How Colorado State compares

  • 145 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use loan-first displacement.

    Colorado State is in a recognizable cluster (145 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

  • 665 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.

    Colorado State is one of them. The cohort minority (84 schools) only awards one-year scholarships, which means the four-year value families assume on a brochure quote isn't guaranteed at every school.

Sources used on this page

Every claim is checked against Colorado State’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Compare with similar schools

Keep exploring Colorado State merit aid

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