‘Colorado Promise Act’ could help save Colorado students thousands of dollars
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)-- A proposed Colorado bill aims to provide free education for students' first two years of higher learning through what's called the 'Colorado Promise Act'.
The main focus of the bill is to encourage more Coloradans to pursue higher education and lawmakers are hoping to do that by making it more affordable. The bill passed the Colorado House this past weekend and is now up for debate in the Senate.
"This bill will provide free tuition and fees for families or students who are taxpayers themselves who have either $90,000 a year in adjusted gross income or less," said State Representative and sponsor of the bill, Shannon Bird.
"So right now, we're kind of, my generation's at a standstill where we don't really know what to do because we can't afford to go to college," said student Kaylee Britton.
The financial aid would help students with their first two years of school. Bird said she thinks this new law would ideally help keep more Coloradans here in the state and added that a lot of the time, people leave the state in order to afford a higher education.
"It isn't just for four-year institutions either. I'll say this also applies for community college, area technical colleges, and then also different schools. So the other limit is you need to be enrolled in at least six credit hours for the semester," said Bird
If the bill is passed, those who wish to apply for the financial aid would have to keep a GPA of 2.5. Students would also have to apply within two years of their high school graduation.
"I think that would help because right now, cosmetology school's a lot cheaper because you're only you're only there for a year, so I can afford to go for the year. Right. But, like, if I wanted to go to a university, I could get the first two years paid for. Yeah, that would be awesome. That would be amazing," said Britton.
If passed, the Colorado Promise Act would be effective starting on January 1, 2025.
