Tuition and fees are set by the Colorado Department on Higher Education (DHE) and must cover all costs of instruction and administration. Tuition and fees are due at the time of registration. A 1% service charge will be assessed on the unpaid balance, and a financial stop will be placed on your record. All tuition and refund determinations are subject to audit. Independent Learning and DHE reserve the right to change rates without notice. Tuition listed is in effect from July 14, 2008 through July 10, 2009. Tuition will almost certainly increase effective July 13, 2009.
Current Tuition:
Online semester-based course: $266 per semester hour
Online self-paced course: $ 225 per semester hour
Print correspondence self-paced course: $225 per semester hour
You should pay for your course by check, money order, or credit card at the time of registration.
Generally, no. However, the Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies has some scholarships for nontraditional students who are at least 22 years of age and enrolled for 6 semester hours or less. Funds are limited. Call 303-492-5148 for more information on the Nontraditional Student Scholarship or download the Scholarship Application.
You may also seek alternative student loan options from private lending institutions. Call the Office of Financial Aid at 303-492-4518 for more information on alternative student loans.
To receive VA benefits (cost of course reimbursement only), you must be accepted into an approved degree or certificate program or have submitted to the VA Office a statement of professional objectives with an outline of courses to achieve those objectives. To receive full benefits, more than one-half of each term’s course work must be taken in regular campus classes. Benefits are not granted for proficiency-increasing postgraduate studies. For information contact the CU-Boulder Veterans’ Services in the Office of Financial Aid at 303-492-7322.
No. Continuing Education tuition is separate from main campus tuition.
Self-paced courses:
You may drop a course within 40 calendar days of registration without any mark on your transcript. You will receive a full refund of tuition. You may drop the course in person, by mail, fax, or e-mail. Refunds will typically be issued within six weeks. You may withdraw from a self-paced course without a refund anytime before you take the final examination. Your transcript will show a mark of W.
Term-based courses:
Each term there will be a drop/refund calendar published. You’ll be notified of the refund schedule in your registration confirmation. Pay careful attention to the fact that you may drop the course only during the full-refund period; if you withdraw during the partial-refund period, a mark of W will appear on your transcript. View more information on term-based course procedures.
Businesses handle these payments in different ways. You will need to obtain a letter (or purchase order, or other official document) from your employer indicating that they will pay for your course(s). You must to bring this letter (or other document) with you at the time of registration. You may also fax or mail this letter with your registration form to Independent Learning, University of Colorado at Boulder, 178 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0178. Fax: 303-492-5335. Payment may be made by check, money order, or credit card.
If your company will also be paying for your textbooks for the course, please indicate this on the letter (or other document) and we will arrange billing with the bookstore and bill your textbooks to your employer with the tuition. The Bookstore will ship books via UPS.
You have 12 calendar months to complete a self-paced course. Term-based courses follow a set schedule established by the instructor, usually the span of a whole term.
While we require a minimum of 6 weeks (or, two weeks per credit hour) between registration and final grade, don’t expect to complete a course in this time period. All of the courses are the equivalent of a regular, main campus course. You should plan and prepare assignments carefully and allow time for thoughtful responses from your instructor (10-14 days). Most instructors limit the number of assignments to two in a seven day period.
Our students report that the typical course takes 3-5 months to complete. Plan ahead, and don’t expect RUSH or special treatment.
Term-based courses may not be extended. Self-paced courses may be extended for an additional 12 months and only one extension is allowed. There is a $60 per credit hour fee for extending your course. You will not be notified that you need to extend.
If you do not complete your course within the time limit, you must formally withdraw before the expiration date in order to receive a “W” on your transcript. If you do not withdraw before the expiration date, you will receive an “F”. If you need additional time to complete your course, you can request a 12-month extension for a fee of $65 per credit hour. It is your responsibility to keep track of your expiration date. We will not notify you when your course is about to expire.
The Course Repetition program allows students who received a grade of D+ or lower in their original course (for graduate students, a grade of C+ or lower) to repeat the course. The original grade will still appear on the transcript, but will be removed from both the total credit hour calculation and GPA. This gives students the ability to try to improve their GPA by repeating a course in which they did poorly the first time. Additional deadlines, rules, and guidelines can be found on the Office of the Registrar website - http://registrar.colorado.edu.
NOTE: If you plan to apply Course Repetition to a course being repeated through ACCESS, Boulder Evening, or Independent Learning you MUST SUBMIT THE FORM IN THE SEMESTER IN WHICH YOU ENROLL IN THE COURSE. If the deadline for the semester has passed, please contact one of our Academic Advisors at 303-492-8252 to discuss your options.
Students from outside the University may take as may courses at once as they like, but we strongly suggest no more than two courses at a time. Students from within the University in the College of Arts and Sciences, Journalism, and Business may take up to two courses at once, and may petition the dean to take more than two. All Engineering students within the University must petition their dean to take any Independent Learning courses.
You may enroll in self-paced courses at any time. Term-based courses have specific enrollment periods that change every term. Go to this link for information on term-based courses.
The University of Colorado’s Independent Learning program offers university credit courses, as well as high school courses in cooperation with high schools. Come view our course list and search according to your needs.
Yes. Independent Learning offers over 30 online courses. View our course list and run a search for online courses. There is also general information about the online course format.
Print versions of all study guides are available (for preview only) at Independent Learning in the Continuing Education building, 1st floor, 1505 University Avenue in Boulder. If you register for a print version correspondence course, you will receive a complimentary copy of the study guide from the CU Book Store when you purchase your books. Replacement copies of the syllabus are $10. All information for online courses is on the Web.
You can get a lot of information about any Independent Learning course by looking at the Welcome Page. First, take a look at our catalogue. Come view our course list and search according to your needs. Then, once the search is completed, click “Learn more” in the right hand column. When there is more information available about a course, you’ll see another link to take you to the Welcome Page for that course.
Please click this link for the answer.
The prerequisite is required unless you already have the equivalent experience/education. In this case, you may proceed without taking the prerequisite. Please be aware that if you begin a course without the prerequisite, you may not get the best experience out of a class, particularly with term-based courses. The instructors will not have time to review the basics you should already know. Some institutions will not allow transfer credit for a course if you don’t have the prerequisite. Check with your advisor if you are uncertain.
Yes, you are eligible to take up to two Independent Learning courses at one time.
Yes, your grade will appear on your CU-Boulder transcript.
It is solely the student’s responsibility to make sure all coursework and exams are completed in a timely basis so that a final grade will be posted to your transcript in time for graduation. This usually means completing all coursework and exams (getting them to the instructor) at least 5 weeks before you expect to graduate.
Yes. Independent Learning offers a certificate program in Sustainable Practices. See sustainable practices certificate program for more information. Independent Learning also offers a certificate in Speech Language Pathology Assistant (SLPA).
We provide the services of academic advisors for Independent Learning students. Call 303-492-8252 or toll free 800-331-2801 and the advisor will return your call at a mutually convenient time.
The University of Colorado strongly recommends that every student have a personal computer if this is financially feasible. Take a look at www.colorado.edu/its/recommendations for more specific information and links to recommended minimum computer configurations.
Go to itsweb.colorado.edu/campusmap/webmap.html for a map of computer labs on campus. You will most likely have to set up an identikey account to access most public computers on campus. See www.colorado.edu/its/accounts for more information.
Even before you register for a course through Independent Learning, you can receive personalized academic advising and scheduling assistance. After you register, you will have a study guide prepared specifically for students who are learning at a distance and who need flexibility for scheduling time. You will have access to your course 24 hours a day. This means that you can post discussion responses or turn in assignments anytime in an online course. And the US Postal Service serves well for print-based courses.
In addition, you can reread the instructor’s commentary - something you can’t do in a lecture hall. In many of the web-based courses, the instructors are going beyond the traditional quiz approach and providing “out in the field” assignments for real-life individualized feedback from the instructor. Other benefits include multiple web-based resources that you can access even after the class is over as references in your future studies. Many instructors also are gearing their assignments to fit your learning style preferences and to support your areas of interests within the subject area. You learn at a pace you choose, with control over when and where to study, all without disrupting family or career responsibilities.
The appropriate academic department has approved all independent learning courses. In addition, the department has approved the instructor. Courses are accredited as a part of the campus accreditation process. Courses are designed to match the course on campus, though they may not be exactly the same and may not use the same textbook. Students tell us that the courses take about the same or slightly more effort than a live campus course. Finally, there tends to be more written work and instructor feedback in independent learning courses and, obviously, no face to face interaction with instructors or classmates.
CU: 