Leaders from the University of Colorado, including President Todd Saliman and Regents Nolbert Chavez, Elliott Hood, and Ilana Dubin Spiegel, recently visited the San Luis Valley as part of the 2025 CU Presidential Outreach Tour. The tour took place from July 30 to August 1 and included stops in Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, and Rio Grande counties.
During their visit, university officials met with K-12 and higher education leaders, nonprofit organizations, civic groups, and local business representatives. The discussions focused on the specific challenges facing rural southern Colorado and explored ways that CU could help address those issues.
“That’s our foundational commitment,” said Saliman. “We want to be here to educate people so they can get an affordable education and get a valuable degree so they can get a better job when they graduate.”
University leaders highlighted that 86% of Colorado resident applicants are accepted to CU campuses. Nearly half of all resident students graduate without debt. Saliman noted the university’s financial aid efforts: “CU puts more money into financial aid from internal resources than the state of Colorado puts into financial aid for all universities and colleges combined,” he said. He cited CU’s $400 million annual investment in financial aid as evidence of this commitment. Programs such as CU Promise—which covers tuition and fees for students with significant financial need—and the CU Boulder Tuition Guarantee were mentioned as key initiatives aimed at improving affordability.
The main event during the tour was held in Monte Vista, where residents attended presentations by representatives from CU Boulder, UCCS, and CU Denver about academic programs, admissions processes, and scholarship opportunities.
“We want more people from the (San Luis) Valley at our campuses and that is why we are here,” Saliman stated. “We have lots of choices for people. We want to make sure that all our campuses have communities where anyone from the state of Colorado can feel welcome.”
At a meeting with the San Luis Valley Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), university officials learned about partnerships among local school districts designed to boost student success. In particular, discussions in Centennial School District focused on a new Data Science Essentials Certificate Program developed with CU Denver that aims to give rural students access to careers in high-demand fields.
The delegation also met with Luis Murillo from Alamosa School District to discuss how the San Luis Valley Family Center supports families through bilingual services, internet access provision, and educational tools intended to remove barriers for students.
“I want to make sure students who go through the University of Colorado can lead happy and healthy lives,” Saliman said. “The University of Colorado needs to be providing the skills, the training, the resources and the connections that you and I need to find that dream. We want to connect with more Coloradans to make sure that we can do that for as many Coloradans as we can.”
Beyond educational institutions, CU leaders connected with community-based organizations throughout their visit. At the Boys and Girls Club they learned about youth development programs; at Shooting Stars Cultural and Leadership Center they discussed efforts supporting underserved youth; while meetings with groups like Maestas Commemorative Committee provided opportunities for future collaboration around historic equity cases such as Alamosa’s 1914 lawsuit challenging educational segregation.
Other meetings involved organizations such as San Luis Valley Resource Development Group, Attainment Network, and Alamosa Chamber of Commerce—focusing on links between education initiatives and economic development in southern Colorado.
“We are Colorado’s university,” Saliman said. “It is our mission to serve the people of Colorado, and all of Colorado’s communities.”
