Age requirements:
- Four-year-old program: Children must be 4-years-old by October 1 of the school year you are applying for
- Three-year-old program: Children must be 3-years-old by October 1 of the school year you are applying for and be eligible for the three-year-old program with qualifying criteria.
- Children who turn 5 years of age by October 1 of the current school year are eligible for kindergarten and cannot attend preschool.
Qualifying for the program:
- Four-year-old families can apply for up to 15 hours per week of state funded preschool in the year before the child enters kindergarten through Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program, also known as Universal Pre-K (UPK).
- Families may qualify for more free hours based on a number of qualifying factors.*
- Three-year-old families can apply for up to 10 hours of state funded three-year-old programs through District 60’s Early Childhood Department. If your child is more than one year away from being eligible for kindergarten families must meet at least one qualifying factor.*
*Colorado Department of Early Childhood Qualifying Factors
- Child is identified as homeless and/or unhoused.
- Child is multilingual, meaning a child is learning two or more languages at the same time, or a child who is learning a second language while continuing to develop their first language.
- Child is eligible for special education with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) issued by a school district
- Child is “in low income,” defined as household income less than 270% of the federal poverty guidelines.
- Child is currently in the custody of a state supervised and county administered foster care home or in non-certified kinship care.
Please visit Colorado Department of Early Education for more information on qualifying factors.
