College Opportunity Fund
College Opportunity Fund (COF)
The College Opportunity Fund (COF) is a State-funded stipend and receiving the COF stipend at Colorado School of Mines is a two-step process. Below are instructions on how to receive your COF stipend, as well as general information.
How to Apply for COF:
First, a student must apply for COF through the College Assist Website. Visit their site for details and you may need to contact them if you encounter any difficulties logging-in or with their application process.
How to 'Lifetime Authorize' COF at Mines:
Once the application has been submitted, the student must also authorize their COF stipend at Mines. This is completed via the COF card in Trailhead. To authorize COF in Trailhead, follow these steps:
- Log in to Trailhead.
- Locate the “College Opportunity Fund” card. (If you don’t see the COF card, you may need to switch from “Home” to the “All Cards” option via the three-line “hamburger” icon on the upper left. Then select the “View All Cards” link in the upper-right, which should show all cards in alpha order.)
- Select “Get Started”.
- In the Authorization Agreement section, choose the ‘Lifetime Authorization for COF Funds’ option.
- Press “Submit”
- Press “Confirm”
This will authorize your COF stipend to apply toward your account balance each semester at Mines for which you are eligible to receive it and it typically takes 1-2 weeks for the stipend to apply.
Students should complete all steps to receive their COF stipend before the census date to avoid delays in receiving COF funds.
If you experience any issues applying for or authorizing your COF stipend, or if you have general questions about COF, please contact residency@mines.edu.
General Information
General Information
COF is separate from financial aid. You do not have to complete a financial aid application to qualify for COF (FAFSA or any other state or institutional financial aid application).
COF is a State-funded stipend, so the cost can change each fiscal year. COF is currently $116 per credit hour. The amount a student receives is then calculated by the number of COF-eligible courses they are registered for multiplied by $116 per credit hour stipend amount.
The stipend amount will be sent by the State on your behalf directly to the institution you choose to attend, where the amount will be applied directly to the total tuition charge on your university account. The stipend does not get mailed to your home or transferred to your bank account.
There is no limit to the number of COF eligible hours you can use (authorize) in a term, provided you have not exceeded your COF lifetime maximum hours of 145.
COF Eligibility
Who is eligible?
- In-state undergraduate students.
- Degree-seeking, non-degree, and teacher enhancement/continuing education students classified as undergraduates will be eligible. Age, income and your financial aid eligibility are irrelevant.
Who is not eligible?
- Undergraduate non-residents students.
- Graduate students are not eligible. Graduate education (including graduate students taking undergraduate classes) is funded in a different way by the State, under a “fee for service” contract. Under this mechanism, the fee for service dollars come directly to the institution. Graduate students do not apply for COF, nor will they see any COF related information on registration information or on bills.
- Non-degree students classified at a graduate level (already having achieved a bachelor’s degree) are not eligible for COF.
COF Eligible Courses
- Most undergraduate courses offered at Mines are COF-eligible, provided they will count toward your bachelor’s degree.
- If you choose a non-COF eligible course during the registration process, a warning message will be provided to let you know that COF funding is not available for the course. You may choose to continue with the course in your schedule or to drop the course. No COF funding will be reflected on tuition and fee bills for non-COF eligible courses.
Lifetime Hours
COF is capped at 145 credit hours. Students classified as undergraduate and taking additional undergraduate work after receipt of a bachelor’s degree may have 30 more undergraduate post baccalaureate hours added to their limit.
To view the number of hours you’ve used to date, please access your College Assist account. Once there you can view your COF hours used at each institution you’ve attended. If you have questions about accessing your College Assist account, you will need to contact College Assist.
If you take COF-eligible courses at any Colorado institution participating in COF, those hours are reported as part of your overall COF hours used and count toward your 145 COF hour lifetime limit. It does not matter if the hours transfer into a Mines degree program or not.
COF Waivers
There are two types of waivers, listed below in submission order.
Undergraduate students can apply for an institutional waiver once they’ve reached their 145 COF hour lifetime limit. The institutional waiver can be used only once and remains in place for three consecutive semesters, including summer. The waiver is not guaranteed to be approved. Students must meet policy criteria to be eligible.
If a student has exhausted the three consecutive semesters from the institutional waiver approval and still needs additional hours to complete the degree, or if a student was denied because they did not meet the policy criteria, they can complete a waiver through the State. This “CCHE” waiver is reviewed and processed by the Colorado Department of Higher Education.
Contact Us
Registrar's Office
Student Center, Suite E280
1200 16th Street
Golden, CO 80401
Registration or student record questions
registrar@mines.edu
303-273-3200
FAX: 303-384-2253
Tuition Classification & COF questions
residency@mines.edu
Transfer credit questions
transfer@mines.edu
Military and VA Benefit related questions
veterans@mines.edu
Graduation questions
graduation@mines.edu