Authority to set tuition rates is vested in the governing boards of Colorado’s state institutions of higher education. The tuition rates which apply to any succeeding fiscal year will not be known until June of each year. The Board of Governors of the CSU System, therefore, reserves the right to change tuition and fee schedules and related policies, including the time, date, and method for payment, at any time.

By registering for a course, a student acknowledges legal and financial responsibility for any and all tuition and fees assessed as a result of registration. Students must follow, and are financially responsible for, formal add/drop and withdrawal procedures at CSU. Non-attendance does not relieve a student of financial responsibility. A student whose account becomes delinquent will be held responsible for paying any late payment charges, collection agency fees up to 40% of the debt, and all costs and expenses including reasonable attorney fees that CSU incurs in its collection efforts. CSU may not register a student, release a diploma or proof of degree, or provide official transcripts to any current or former student who has past due financial obligations to CSU.

Undergraduate Tuition 

Schedule of Tuition and Fees

The most current listing of tuition and fees, as well as a tuition calculator, can be found at the Office of Financial Aid's website.

In addition to the charges listed under each category, students may be required to pay differential tuition, program charges, charges for technology, and/or special course fees. Tuition and fees for a student registering for a combination of regular on-campus courses and Division of Continuing Education (CSU Online) courses will be assessed individually according to the schedule established for each.

Students who are off campus for full time internships, practica, field placement, supervised college teaching or student teaching and are not concurrently enrolled in other courses, may be assessed a reduced general fee amount.

College Opportunity Fund (COF)

Undergraduate Colorado resident students are eligible to receive a College Opportunity Fund (COF) stipend from the State of Colorado to apply toward tuition costs. To receive the COF stipend, students must apply for the stipend AND authorize CSU to receive the funds via RAMweb.

Differential Tuition

To ensure students have an opportunity to fully explore their academic options and the range of programs offered at CSU, the University does not charge the full cost of tuition until students have acquired 60 credit hours (30 credits if in the College of Business). After that point, at which most students have settled on a major, students begin to pay differential tuition in addition to the base tuition paid up to that point. Differential tuition is assessed to undergraduate resident, non-resident, and WUE students. Credits that students bring upon entering the University may cause them to reach the 60 credit hours earlier than their peers. Almost all of the differential tuition students pay returns directly to the academic colleges and departments to enhance the quality of a CSU education. Each CSU college’s rates are based on three factors:

  • High cost—i.e., how expensive the program is to provide
  • High demand—i.e., whether the program is in high demand by large numbers of students
  • High return—i.e., how much students generally earn when they graduate from that specific program

Differential tuition is assessed by the course subject code at a rate of $62/$80/$106 per credit hour, depending on the course. Differential tuition is not assessed by a student’s major. For more detail on differential tuition cost per credit, go to the Office of Financial Aid's website and select "Undergraduate Differential Tuition."

Students are assessed differential tuition upon reaching 30 transcripted credits (sophomore level) for College of Business courses. Students are assessed differential tuition upon reaching 60 transcripted credits (junior level) for all other courses offered at CSU.

Differential tuition is also assessed for specific academic programs that cost more to offer. 

Graduate Tuition 

Graduate tuition and fees are updated annually. Information about financial support for graduate students is available in the Graduate and Professional Bulletin.

International 

CSU collects an administrative charge to cover administrative costs associated with the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). The USA Patriot Act (2001) requires universities to utilize the SEVIS system and maintain extensive electronic records. The CSU administrative charge should not be confused with the I-901 SEVIS fee that visa applicants pay to the United States Department of State.

Starting Fall 2023, the International Student and Scholar Services administrative charge is $175 per semester. It is charged to all F-1 and J-1 students for this each semester they are enrolled, including summer if summer coursework occurs.  Fees are subject to change. 

Personal and Living Expenses

International students should anticipate expenses considerably higher than those quoted for domestic students. Additional considerations include costs of deposits for off-campus housing, transportation, international travel, clothing (particularly winter clothing for those coming from warmer climates), living expenses during vacation periods and during the summer months for those who choose to remain on campus, the cost of keeping an automobile and insuring it, child care, shipping books and other belongings home, taxes owed on U.S. source income, and items of personal use which cannot be brought in a suitcase and which must be purchased in the United States after arrival. An annual inflation rate of 3% should be anticipated in all calculations. Refer to the Office of International Programs for an up-to-date list of estimated expenses. 

Health Insurance

Colorado State University requires all full-time domestic students and all international students to carry health insurance as a way of protecting the student’s educational investment. Students must meet this requirement their first semester at CSU and every fall semester thereafter. Students can meet the health insurance requirement by electing coverage through an individual health insurance plan through a family member, employer, or by enrolling in the University-sponsored Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP). Visit Health Insurance Requirement for deadlines and additional information on how to meet the requirement. Note that all CSU students have full access to the wide range of medical, counseling, and health education and prevention services provided by CSU Health Network, regardless of their insurance plan.

Housing

CSU requires that all newly admitted first-year students (Admissions Type “New”) and transfer students with fewer than 15 post-high school credits, who are single, under 21 years of age, and not living with their parents in the Fort Collins area, live in the University residence halls for the first two consecutive terms of their attendance. Credits taken concurrent with high school and/or credits attained through Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) do not apply toward living experience. First year students are guaranteed a room in a residence hall on campus. The residence halls house approximately 15% non-first year students including transfer students and upper-division students. Graduate students, upper-division undergraduate students and students with families can find information on university apartments. Off-campus housing information can be found at Off-Campus Life.

Third-Party Billing

CSU’s Third-Party Sponsor Billing service allows third party sponsors to pay the university for authorized student charges.  A sponsor is any government agency, business, embassy, foreign government, third-party trust fund or other entity that agrees to pay for all or part of a student’s expenses while at CSU.  A sponsor billing service charge of $50 is assessed each term to all sponsors that have requested direct billing through the Sponsor Billing office.  If the sponsor does not authorize the sponsor billing charge, the $50 charge will be billed to the student account. All agencies and other entities sponsoring international students, which utilize third party billing privileges, will be assessed a $375 base service fee per student per academic term by the Office of International Programs. This fee applies to all international students who receive services regardless of whether the student is registered for credit-bearing classes.

The sponsor should fill out a Sponsor Billing Authorization Form and provide an official letter or other authorizing document to:

Colorado State University
6024 Campus Delivery
Fort Collins CO 80523 – 6024
FAX (970) 491-2452

For more information, please visit the Third-Party Sponsor Billing Service FAQ website. For a copy of the Service Schedule and/or a detailed list of estimated expenses, please contact:

International Student and Scholar Services
Attention: Sponsored Student Programs
Colorado State University, Campus Delivery 1024
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1024
Email: isss@colostate.edu

Special Fees

In addition to the regular charges which all students are assessed, other fees may be applicable at certain times or for certain groups of students pursuing particular activities.

Late registration fee $50.00
Transcript fee per copy Refer to https://registrar.colostate.edu/transcripts/
Course fees Certain courses carry a special fee which is assessed at the time of registration. The costs vary and are determined annually. The current fees for each course can be found at https://financialaid.colostate.edu/base-tuition/. The fees are for the use of materials or other specific expenditures necessary for the conduct of instruction.
International and Scholar Services The International Student and Scholar Services administrative charge is $175 each semester. Charges are subject to change.
Education Abroad Program Fees The program fees will vary based on the actual costs of tuition and program expenses. More information can be found on the CSU Education Abroad website: https://international.colostate.edu/educationabroad/

Fees 

Nonrefundable Fees*

Admission application fee
First-year freshman, transfer and second bachelor students1
 $50.00
GUEST students
 $25.00
Application fee for admission to the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program $80.00
Enrollment Deposit2 (on-campus freshman and transfer students) - confirms intent to enroll; applied to first semester bill $300.00
New Student Enrollment Charge (on-campus freshman and transfer students) - charges for orientation and transition programs $300.00
Composition Directed Self-Placement Survey $12.00
Math Placement Tool $15.00
Credit Established by Challenge Examination per credit attempted $20.00
Language Placement Examination $20.00
Charge for technology, per term (college-wide)3
College of Agricultural Sciences
 $90.00
College of Business4
 $103.00
College of Health and Human Sciences4
 $78.22
Intra-University
 $44.00
College of Liberal Arts4
 $60.17
College of Natural Sciences
 $94.50
College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
 $90.00
Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering
 $187.40
Warner College of Natural Resources
 $94.50
Transcript fee per copy (Refer to https://registrar.colostate.edu/transcripts/)
University Alternative Transportation Fee5 $37.00
University Facility Fee (per credit hour) $23.75
University Technology Fee $32.00
*

Fees are subject to change.

1

The undergraduate application is free for Colorado students and can be waived in the presence of financial hardship.

2

The Enrollment Deposit can be deferred in the case of financial hardship.

3

Undergraduate students enrolled in twelve (12) or more credits and graduate students enrolled in nine (9) or more credits are considered full time and required to pay the full amount according to their college affiliation. Part-time undergraduate and graduate students pay a prorated amount. Graduate students in the College of Natural Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and the Intra-University option are not assessed a charge. 

4

The Colleges of Business, Health and Human Sciences, and Liberal Arts are the only colleges that apply their charge during the summer session.

5

 Undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in fewer than six (6) credits are assessed $15.54.

Special Course Fees

Certain courses require enrolled students to pay fees for special services and/or materials. Courses with fees are indicated by a Yes in the Special Course Fee line in Courses A-Z. Special course fees are updated in June for the upcoming academic year. For the most current listing of special course fees, visit the Provost and Executive Vice President’s web page and select Complete List of Special Course Fees.

There are four types of special course fees:

  1. For some courses, enrolled students are assessed a uniform fee during registration to cover costs such as the rental of external facilities, the expenses of field placements, the provision of special equipment and materials that the University would not otherwise maintain, and/or the costs of off-campus travel of students with supervising faculty members.
  2. For some courses, enrolled students are assessed a fixed or variable fee by the department based upon actual use of expended materials supplied by the department and used by the student in the creation, construction, and/or fabrication of an object of value, such as a class project that becomes the student’s property. These fees are designed for situations in which it is more efficient for the departments to supply the expendable materials because of the inability to make individual purchases economically.
  3. For some courses, enrolled students are assessed variable fees by the department based upon actual damage or non-return of equipment used in the courses.
  4. For some courses, enrolled students are assessed a fixed fee to provide funds for replacement or upgrade of equipment that was purchased originally through department funds and cannot be maintained appropriately without this type of student fee support.

All special course fees will be assessed and collected through normal student accounts receivable procedures. No fees should be paid directly to academic departments or individuals.