VOTE411 Voter Guide

My top priorities are to stand up to Trump's attacks on higher education, to make in-state tuition affordable for Colorado families and to reduce the graduation gap impacting first-generation students. I have detailed plans for each of these on my website at this address: https://www.edieforcu.com/priorities

The college degree gap for students of color and those from rural communities can best be addressed by making in-state tuition affordable for all Colorado families. I have a detailed plan to do so. 1. Prioritize Students over Bureaucracy The Issue: Over the past five years, CU's non-teaching staff grew by 19%, while student enrollment increased by only 2%.

The Plan: Administrators will review and streamline the university's 16,000 non-teaching positions—potentially using AI to improve administrative efficiency—to ensure tuition revenue directly funds classroom education rather than back-office overhead.

2. Leverage Out-of-State Demand The Issue: Out-of-state applications have surged by 58% over five years, highlighting CU’s status as a premier national research institution.

The Plan: Capitalize on this high demand by maximizing revenue from non-resident students to subsidize and protect lower tuition rates for Colorado families.

3. Expand Transfer Credits The Issue: The first two years of college consist primarily of general, non-degree-related coursework that can often be satisfied earlier.

The Plan: Expand Concurrent Enrollment and the direct transfer of high school AP and community college credits (up to 60 credits, or two years' worth of coursework). This strategy maintains university academic standards, increases college access for diverse student populations, and significantly reduces the overall cost of a degree for in-state students.

The Problem: Low Graduation Rates & Debt For many Colorado and first-generation students, the dream of a degree is slipping away. While CU is a world-class institution, the CU Denver and UCCS campuses have a 46% six-year graduation rate. Leaving more than half of students with life-altering debt and no degree is unacceptable; CU must provide a clear path to graduation.

The Solution: A 4-Pillar Success Plan Rather than reinventing the wheel, my plan implements proven retention strategies from across the country:

Structured Faculty Guidance: Roll out the system used by CU’s Leeds School of Business—which raised graduation rates from 55% to 83%—by steering students through prerequisites in their first two years and major-specific classes in their final two years.

Predictive Analytics: Adopt Georgia State’s model of using real-time data to flag "at-risk" behaviors (e.g., a failed quiz or missed deadline) to trigger proactive outreach within 24 hours.

Faculty Champions: Model Washington State’s initiative by encouraging first-generation professors and TAs to identify themselves, breaking down academic barriers and fostering belonging.

Paid Peer Mentorship: Mirror UT Austin's program by paying first-generation upperclassmen to mentor incoming freshmen, providing income for veteran students and trusted guidance for new ones.

I'm strongly against both open and concealed carry of guns on university property. I have received the Mothers Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate distinction for my long track record supporting common sense gun restrictions. I will continue to advocate for this issue as a CU Regent.

My top priorities as CU Regent reflect the most consequential issues facing the University today: thoughtfully integrating artificial intelligence into our academic mission, strengthening minority recruitment and retention so CU truly reflects the Colorado it serves, and protecting the University against the financial uncertainty posed by potential federal funding cuts. These are not abstract policy areas. They will shape what kind of institution CU becomes over the next decade, who has access to it, and whether it remains financially sound enough to deliver on its promise. In my first 100 days, I would move deliberately on all three, leading with listening but pairing that listening with concrete next steps. Aligning the University around a thoughtful AI strategy. Artificial intelligence is reshaping how students learn, how faculty teach and conduct research, and how universities operate. The institutions that thrive in the coming decade will be those that engage with AI thoughtfully and proactively. The ones that struggle will be those that react in fragments, leaving faculty to navigate complex questions alone and students unprepared for a workforce that increasingly demands AI fluency. CU cannot afford to be in the second category. In my first 100 days, I will work to understand the University's current AI posture across all four campuses. What policies exist? Where are the gaps? How is AI already being used in classrooms, research labs, and administrative functions?

Closing the college degree gap for students of color and rural Coloradans is one of the most important opportunities facing our state, and squarely within the Board's responsibility. Colorado ranks among the most educated states, and CU has a strong foundation. Yet Latino, Black, Indigenous, and rural students do not always complete college at the same rates as their peers. That gap represents enormous untapped potential. The Board should act with concrete, measurable, sustained steps. That starts with specific, time-bound goals for enrollment, retention, and six-year graduation rates for students of color, first-generation, and rural students, with annual public progress reports. What gets measured gets managed. The Board must strengthen pipelines from Colorado high schools and community colleges, expand dual and concurrent enrollment, grow programs like Pre-Collegiate Development, and smooth transfer pathways. Affordability must be real, with need-based aid covering the full cost of attendance, not just tuition, and emergency funds to keep students enrolled. Retention requires tailored advising, mentorship, culturally responsive mental health support, and a more diverse faculty. Rural Colorado deserves dedicated focus through targeted outreach, hybrid degree options, and extension programs that connect CU's mission to communities statewide. Every Colorado student who earns a degree strengthens their family, community, and our state's future.

Yes, the Board can and should take meaningful action to reduce student debt, and the urgency has grown as federal grant funding to public universities faces deep cuts. When Washington pulls back, the burden falls on students and families. CU cannot stand by. First, we need to seek more from our endowment to offset tuition increases. CU's endowment exists to support the long-term mission of the University, and one of the most direct ways it can do that is by reducing the financial burden on students. The Board should work with the CU Foundation to expand the share of endowment proceeds directed toward financial aid, and align fundraising priorities with affordability. Every dollar drawn responsibly is a dollar that does not come from a loan. Second, we need a moonshot. My goal as Regent is to ensure any student from a Colorado family making less than $150,000 receives free tuition at CU, and any student from a family making less than $200,000 receives half tuition. That covers the overwhelming majority of Colorado households and would be one of the most ambitious affordability commitments by any public university in the country. This will not happen overnight. With federal grants shrinking, it requires sustained fundraising, careful endowment management, partnerships with the state legislature, and tough decisions about administrative costs. But moonshots are how institutions change.

No guns on campus. Students deserve to feel safe.

I have three top priorities: lifting CU's four-year graduation rate, securing collective bargaining rights for the workers who make the university run, and making it possible for the people who study and work at CU to afford to live near campus.

I would push the Board to set measurable four-year completion targets and invest in the advising and degree-navigation that helps students finish on time, which also cuts the debt they carry out the door.

Faculty and staff deserve a real seat at the table, and good-faith collective bargaining is how you get it.

I would treat affordable student and employee housing as core to CU's public mission, because a degree or a job means little if you cannot afford to live where you earn it.

In my first 100 days, I would start by listening, holding public sessions on each campus with students, faculty, staff, unions, and community leaders to hear where the real barriers are, and asking for a clear data baseline on graduation rates, costs, and housing.

I would also move quickly to push the Board to take up and vote on collective bargaining, because the workers who deliver CU's mission should not have to wait years for a voice. The Regents' job is governance and oversight, and I intend to use it to make CU work better for the Coloradans it serves.

I would have the Board track and publicly report four-year and six-year graduation rates broken out by race, income, and geography.

I would direct resources to what the evidence shows works.

For rural students, that means strengthening transfer and concurrent-enrollment pathways from community colleges and rural high schools, so students can start close to home and finish at CU without losing credits or time.

For students of color and first-generation students, it means investing in the supports that drive completion: proactive advising, mentoring, summer bridge programs, and basic-needs assistance that keeps a temporary hardship from ending a degree.

I would push CU to build real relationships with rural districts and historically underserved communities rather than waiting for applications to arrive. I would also prioritize need-based aid.

This fits my broader commitment to set measurable graduation targets and align the budget with student outcomes. A degree gap is not inevitable. It reflects choices about where we put attention and money, and I would choose to close it.

Affordability for all Coloradans is one of my core reasons for running, and the Board has real options.

The current four-year graduation rate at CU Boulder is 62%, it should be 70% or above compared to peer institutions.

Time is debt. Every extra semester a student spends is more tuition and more borrowing, so I would set measurable four-year graduation targets and invest in the advising and degree-navigation support that helps students finish on time. Clearer pathways and fewer wasted credits mean less borrowing.

I would also push for real cost transparency, so students and families can see the full price and their aid options before they enroll, plus stronger financial-aid counseling so no one borrows more than they need.

Finally, we should minimize tuition increases that keep eating away at Coloradans budgets.

There should be no guns on our campuses, openly carried or concealed. Universities are places where people come to learn, teach, research, and live, and that work depends on everyone feeling safe. Bringing firearms into classrooms, dorms, labs, and lecture halls does not make a campus safer. It makes students, faculty, and staff less safe and less free to speak, study, and do their jobs, and the evidence does not support the claim that more guns reduce that risk.