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Designed for students whose lives interrupted college, CU Complete offers a renewed path to graduation, building on the success of Finish What You Started

When a student leaves college before finishing their degree, the reasons are rarely simple. Health crises, family emergencies, financial difficulties, academic setbacks or other major life circumstances can interrupt even the most determined plans.

At the University of Colorado Boulder, students who once left college before completing their degree now have a structured pathway back—one built on a successful federal initiative and reimagined as a permanent program.��

For the past four years, the CU Boulder��, in partnership with the Office of Undergraduate Education, has overseen the�� (FWYS) program, which was designed to help former students who demonstrate financial need complete their degree. The $3.1 million in four-year grant funding for that program was made possible by federal COVID-era relief dollars and distributed throughout the state of Colorado.

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Michelle Pagnani (left), Blazey Heier (center) and Ann Herrmann (right) with the Division of Continuing Education.

Now, as Finish What You Started winds down, its success is informing a redesigned and expanded effort:��. This successor program aims to carry forward the most effective elements of FWYS while creating a longer-term, institutionally funded model for degree completion, says Blazey Heier, director of student services in the Division of Continuing Education, who has been involved with both FWYS and CU Complete.

FWYS proved its worth

From the beginning, Heier says, FWYS targeted a student population that higher education often struggles to serve: stop-out students.

“�鶹��Ժ who stop out have a pattern of stopping out multiple times. They re-engage and then stop out again,” she says. “Finish What You Started was designed to interrupt that cycle.”

The results were striking.��

By Fall 2025, 117 students had graduated through FWYS, with nine additional students expected to graduate in May, out of 182 students admitted overall, says Michelle Pagnani, program manager for CU Complete and a senior academic and career coach. She notes that this figure represents a 69% graduation rate—which is especially significant given the many challenges students faced upon returning, she says, such as family caregiving responsibilities, managing full-time jobs and dealing with serious health issues.

“Given the obstacles that this student population faces, we’re really proud of that number,” Pagnani says. She also notes that some of the students who were a few credits short of finishing their degree through FWYS will have the opportunity to do so with the new CU Complete program.

Why FWYS worked

While the scholarships provided through FWYS were substantial, Continuing Education staff emphasized that funding alone was not the primary driver of success.��

�鶹��Ժ in the program received coordinated support that included academic and career advising, academic and career coaching, financial aid consulting and assistance coordinating with other campus offices and advisors. For many students, FWYS was the first time they had experienced such a personalized, sustained engagement from the university, says Ann Herrmann, a program manager and academic advisor in Continuing Education who conducted outreach and advising for the FWYS program.

“For many of the students, their stop-out may have been a real turning point for them—a traumatic event like a death in the family or a financial catastrophe that prevented them from continuing their education,” she says. “Back then, they may not have known about support and resources that were available. When they came back (as a result of FWYS), they’ve talked about how helpful the wrap-around support was and how vital it’s been for them to finish.”

Herrmann notes FWYS graduates have completed degrees across a wide range of disciplines, including computer science, molecular biology, psychology, economics and geography. Multiple FWYS graduates have gone on to graduate school, while others have used their degrees to move up in their organizations or start new careers.��

CU Complete gets rejuvenated

As a successor to FWYS, CU Complete is not entirely new. The program initially launched in 2009 as a limited scholarship initiative offering one-time awards of $500 or $1,000, depending upon the recipient’s credit load. Over time, however, rising tuition costs and staff changes reduced its impact.��

“If someone found us, we would tell them about the scholarship, but we weren’t doing outreach and we didn’t have dedicated support staff,” Heier explains.

Heier says Finish What You Started changed that trajectory. Seeing the results of intensive advising and coaching and sustained financial support, Continuing Education leaders made the case for reimagining CU Complete as a comprehensive, high-touch program modeled on the best features of FWYS.��

Beginning in Fall 2026, the redesigned CU Complete program will offer semester-over-semester scholarships for up to six semesters total, paired with structured support services. Pagnani says the program will provide $1,000 per semester, with the opportunity to earn an additional $250 per term, after the student’s first semester, based upon academic performance.

Funding for CU Complete comes directly from Continuing Education revenue, making it a long-term institutional commitment rather than a time-limited grant, Heier notes. Meanwhile, unlike FWYS, CU Complete is open to both in-state and out-of-state students and does not require students to demonstrate financial need—recognizing that many students face challenges that are not captured by traditional aid metrics.��

“That piece is really important,” Heier says. “A lot of times people may not fall into traditional financial-need thresholds, but that doesn’t mean they can just pay for classes—especially when paying for classes means working fewer hours.”

Eligibility is intentionally focused on students who are close to finishing. Pagnani says eligible students must have 90 or more total credits, including at least 45 from CU Boulder; have been away from CU for at least two consecutive years; must be pursuing their first bachelor’s degree; and must be able to graduate within six semesters.��

Herrmann says CU Complete is currently accepting applications for the revamped CU Complete program, with eight students thus far who are eligible to participate in the fall semester.

Measuring what comes next

CU Complete is launching with clear metrics in mind, Heier says. Leaders plan to track completion within the six-consecutive-semester window, compare outcomes to both FWYS and the earlier version of CU Complete and assess return on investment.��

At the same time, Pagnani emphasizes that qualitative outcomes—student confidence, persistence and sense of belonging—remain central to the program’s mission.��

Pagnani says CU Complete reflects a broader shift in how educational institutions think about adult learners and degree completion. The program recognizes them as individuals whose lives changed—and who still want to finish what they started, she says.

Expanding services and building community

While CU Complete mirrors FWYS in many ways, it also aims to expand beyond it.��

Pagnani says plans include a one-credit onboarding course for returning students, planned for Fall 2027, as well as expanded access to career assessments such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Strong Interest Inventory and Clifton Strengths.��

“We’ve been able to offer those for free and it’s been a really meaningful benefit,” she says.

CU Complete students also will have access to a neurodiversity support group and shared resource space for adult learners who identify as having ADHD, dyslexia or autism. As the group’s facilitator, Pagnani describes it as a way for students to build community, share their stories, give and receive advice and, in some cases, normalize experiences that may have contributed to them stopping-out previously.��

Along these lines, a major area of focus for CU Complete administrators is community building.��

“At our graduation party last year, students were saying, ‘Why didn’t I know these people before?’” Heier says. Administrative demands had limited opportunities for peer connection under the grant, but CU Complete is being designed with more space for that work, she adds.

Meanwhile, Herrmann says she foresees CU Complete as strengthening the bonds between returning students and the university, as happened previously with Finish What You Started graduates. She notes several of those graduates shared how completing their degrees allowed them to fully claim their identity as CU alumni—attending campus events, participating in the community and seeing themselves as part of the university in a way they never could before.

“�鶹��Ժ tell us they finally feel like they belong at CU,” she says.��

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