Is Preschool Free in Colorado? The Universal Preschool (UPK) Program Explained
Short answer: yes, mostly. Colorado gives every four-year-old 15 free hours of preschool a week — and a lot of three-year-olds qualify too. Most parents either don't know it exists or assume they don't qualify. You probably do.
I found this out the hard way. We paid full price for preschool for a full year before someone mentioned UPK at pickup. Thousands of dollars we didn't need to spend.
What UPK actually is
Colorado's Universal Preschool program (UPK Colorado) pays for up to 15 hours a week of preschool for every child in the year before kindergarten. The state pays the provider directly — the money never passes through your hands. There's no income test. If your kid is four, you're in.
That's not a typo. It's universal. Your household income doesn't matter. You could make $300,000 a year and your four-year-old still gets 15 free hours.
What about three-year-olds?
Here's where it gets a little less universal. Three-year-olds qualify if they meet at least one of several factors: lower household income, being an English learner, having an IEP, being in foster care, or having a parent in the military. A surprising number of families hit one of these without realizing it — especially the income threshold, which is higher than most people assume.
If your three-year-old doesn't qualify, you're on a waitlist, and additional funding opens up as it becomes available.
How much it's actually worth
Fifteen free hours a week is roughly half of a full-time preschool schedule. Depending on the program, that's $300-500 off your monthly bill. Over a school year, you're looking at $3,000-5,000 saved.
Some families pair UPK with a paid afternoon program, so the preschool covers the morning free and you only pay for 15 hours of afternoon care instead of 30 hours of full-day. That's the setup that saves you the most.
How to actually claim it
You apply through the state's UPK portal — the Colorado Department of Early Childhood runs it. The enrollment window for the following school year usually opens in January. Here's the part people mess up:
You have to apply during the window. Miss it and you can still apply late, but your first-choice programs are likely full. I know parents who didn't hear about it until spring and found every program they wanted already at capacity.
You pick providers in order. The portal asks you to rank the programs you want. Choose carefully — your ranking matters for matching.
You can use it at a lot of places, not just preschools. Participating providers include school district preschools, private centers, family child care homes, and community programs. Several Colorado Springs daycare centers and preschools in this directory participate.
The fine print worth knowing
UPK covers the educational hours, but providers can charge for the hours beyond 15, plus things like meals, transportation, and extended care. Ask any program you're considering exactly what UPK covers and what you'd pay out of pocket. Some make it seamless; others tack on enough fees that the "free" part gets diluted.
Also: UPK is for the school year, not summer. When school's out, so is the funding, unless the program runs year-round under a different structure.
→ Browse Colorado Springs preschools that participate in UPK