In 2019, Colorado legislators passed Senate Bill 19-003 to address Colorado’s educator shortages by providing loan forgiveness to educators. The law authorizes the Colorado Department of Higher Education to offer loan repayment assistance on qualified loans for educators, primarily for those who serve in rural and hard-to-fill positions in Colorado. (See the drop-down “Who Can Apply” for links to approved positions.)
Per statute, applicants may be awarded up to $5,000 in student loan forgiveness every year for up to five years. After receiving this award, if you still have a remaining balance on your student loans, please apply again for this program. You can only receive one loan forgiveness award from the state per month.
The program has been funded for five years and is now in its fourth year. Due to limited funds, not every educator who applies will receive loan forgiveness.
Temporary Loan Forgiveness Program
This Colorado Loan Forgiveness program was expanded by HB23-1001 during the 2023 legislative session to include a Temporary Loan Forgiveness Program.
That program, funded for two years, 2022-23 and 2023-24, is now closed, and no further loan payments are being made. If you participated in the Temporary Loan Forgiveness program, you can apply for the Colorado Loan Forgiveness Program. The application for the program will open March 1st, 2025, through April 2025.
- History of the Program
In 2019-2020 CDHE launched the first application cycle and after receiving applications had funding paused as state budgets were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in no loan forgiveness awards for that cycle. The 2021-2022 fiscal year was the first year the program distributed loan forgiveness.
- How to Apply
The application for the program will open March1st, 2025 through April 2025.
For technical assistance, including password resets, please contact: EdLoanForgiveness@tuition.io
- Who Can Apply?
Program qualifications are as follows:
- Must currently work in a Colorado public school (preK-12) for the 2022-2023 school year (this includes BOCES and facility schools) as a teacher, principal or special service provider
- Must work in an approved rural school/district or work in a content-shortage area in a non-rural school/district
- Must hold a current teaching or special service provider license valid in the state of Colorado
- Only applicants with Federal Student Loans in their name qualify (check to see if you have qualifying loans here.)
- First preference will be given to applicants in approved rural schools/districts, followed by applicants in content-shortage area in non-rural schools/districts
- Timeline
The Application will open March-April 2025
Award letters will be sent by the end of May
Payments will start in June 2025 and the last payments will be made in June 2026.
- Questions
Answers to frequently asked questions can be found in the Colorado Educator Loan Forgiveness Informational Booklet.
If you have any additional questions about the program or you find a link on this page is broken, please contact:
EdLoanForgiveness@dhe.state.co.us
For technical assistance with the application, please contact: