The application fee is:
- $50 for domestic students (U.S., citizens, U.S. permanent residents, undocumented immigrants [DACA, etc.] and asylees/refugees)
- $75 for international students*
and must be paid by the application deadline. We accept payments via credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB, Discover, and Diners Club) or bank transfer from a U.S. checking account.
The application fee may not be refunded
under any circumstance, including withdrawal of the application from admission consideration prior to receiving a decision.
*Graduate students opting to do an ECE or WES evaluation will not be charged the $75 application fee. However, students opting out of the ECE/WES requirement will now need to pay this fee during the application process unless they have an affiliation
with a recruitment agency who is currently in contract with CU Denver. Please see the International Admissions website for more information.
Fee Waivers
CU Denver offers application fee waivers in a variety of ways for eligible graduate applicants:
- Automatic fee-waivers
The application fee is automatically waived for individuals from the following groups:
- CU Denver Alumni (must indicate CU Denver as a school on the Academic History page)
- Current CU Denver Student (must indicate CU Denver as a school on the Academic History page
- Members of the military, including active duty, reserve and guard forces, or veterans and retirees (must indicate military affiliation on the Personal Information page)
- Registered members of a federally recognized American Indian tribe or Alaska Native entity (must indicate tribal affiliation and provide supporting documentation on the Personal Information page).
How to apply for this waiver:
- There is no need to apply for an automatic fee waiver. As long as you fall in one of the groups above and provide supporting documentation (if necessary), then your fee will automatically be waived by our system within 24 hours of submitting your
application.
- Please be patient and wait for the fee to be waived automatically; we do not issue refunds to applicants who paid the application fee while waiting for a fee waiver decision. You are also welcome to reach out
to your program directly to inquire about the status of your waiver.
- Manual Graduate Admissions fee waivers
The application fee is reviewed and manually waived by Graduate Admissions personnel in each school/college for individuals from the following
groups:
- Applicants experiencing financial hardship.
- Applicants with a disability that substantially limits one or more major life activities.
- Applicants who have attended a Central Graduate Admissions/Recruitment event, either on- or off-campus.
- Applicants experiencing difficulty submitting payment due to sanctions in their country.
- Applicants who are current students, staff, or faculty members at a University of Colorado institution (CU Denver, CU Anschutz, UCCS, CU Boulder).
- Applicants who are/were participants (in good standing) of a graduate preparation program, scholar program, service organization, or public service program (must provide documentation).
- Applicants who are/were participants (in good standing) of a University of Colorado-affiliated research program (must provide documentation).
How to apply for this waiver
For both graduate degree-seeking applicants, and graduate non-degree/certificate applicants, please do NOT submit this form unless you have already submitted your application; your program application
allows you to submit without making a payment, as you are not prompted to pay until AFTER you submit your program application.
- After submitting your application, start the Graduate Application Fee Waiver Request Form and under “Reasons for Fee Waiver,” select the option that best applies to you.
- For applicants who are/were participants (in good standing) of a graduate preparation program, scholar program, service organization, public service program, or a University of Colorado-affiliated research program,
you must complete and upload a signed Program Participation Verification Form.
- Submit the Graduate Application Fee Waiver Request Form.
Upon submitting the form, you will receive a decision on your fee waiver request within 3-5 business days, so please ensure that you are submitting your fee waiver request with enough time to meet your program’s deadline. Please be patient and wait for a decision on your request; we do not issue refunds to applicants who paid the application fee while waiting for a fee waiver decision.
NOTE: As we have a limited number of fee waivers to grant, not all requests are approved. If your fee waiver request is denied, you will be instructed to pay the application fee. Application fee waiver decisions are final, and do not affect your likelihood of admission into a graduate program.