Do you have a new school in mind to transfer to?
- Have you talked to that provider and confirmed they have an open Universal Preschool seat for your kiddo?
Need to browse childcare in your area? Use this link
When a child enrolls with two providers within the same month, CDEC will prorate the payment by the number of days the child was enrolled with each provider.
- It is extremely important that providers use the correct start date when enrolling as well as using the correct end date when unenrolling as soon as they are notified. This will support CDEC in ensuring that payment is accurate.

Step 1:

Parents: Let your Current Provider (A) know that you will be leaving their center and coordinate an end date. Coordinate with New Provider (B) a start date for your kiddo.

Current Provider (A): Unenroll the child from your Universal Preschool Portal using the coordinated end date

Current Provider (A) can select a future unenroll date (last date of attendance) which will allow a new provider to select their start date (after unenroll date) for the child.

Step 2:

Parents: After you see an Unenrolled status on your application, add your New Provider (B) to your application and list as #1 or #2.

This new selection will be sent straight to the New Provider (B) directly for them to accept/decline
If you are unable to add new selection, please reach out to Melia to unlock your application

New Provider (B): Check your Universal Preschool Portal for a new match, accept the child's application and let the family know they have been accepted.

See Provider Handbook for details about accepting matches

Step 3:

Parents: After a provider accepts your application, you will receive an email notification or communication from New Provider (B) that you have a new match. Go into your Universal Preschool application and accept the match.

Parents, this is your last step in this process! No more Universal Preschool action is needed on your end.
Contact your New Provider (B) for details regarding their enrollment process.

Step 4:

New Provider (B): Complete enrollment in your Universal Preschool Portal using the start date of your new student.

See Provider Handbook for details about enrolling students

Provider Updates

ECCLC, your Larimer LCO, holds monthly provider support sessions that are virtual via Zoom. You can register by clicking the links below! All dates are subject to change.

Topic: UPK Provider Update

Time: Sep 10, 2025 1:00 PM Mountain Time

Join Zoom Meeting

Topic: UPK Provider Update

Time: Oct 8, 2025 1:00 PM Mountain Time

Join Zoom Meeting

September 2025 Provider Updates

ECPC Level

Curious about your Early Childhood Professional Credentials? Learn more here!

Expenditure Report

Expenditure Report due 3/30 **Not for School Districts**

Specific template links will be sent from Metrix in the coming weeks. To prepare, be sure you have access to the Metrix enroll portal and funding reports from August 2024-February 2025. If you have questions, please email coupkpayments@metrixiq.com and guidance documents are linked below.

CDEC Office Hours

Community Provider office hours have been scheduled as follows:

1st Tuesday of each month at 6pm: meet.google.com/jck-exmr-foq

School District office hours have been scheduled as follows:

3rd Thursday of each month at 4pm- meet.google.com/jpw-svxi-qsv

AU office hours have been scheduled as follows:

2nd Tuesday of each month at 2pm- meet.google.com/vxn-siwg-zed

Provider Rates & Payments

How to Add Fees

2024-2025 Provider Handbook_ V1_Updated_030124

Provider Handbook 2025-2026

This handbook contains helpful information about eligibility, the enrollment process, and resources to market your program.

Provider Dates & Action Items

Provider Agreement: Further Clarification on Fees

Provider agrees to post preschool tuition, enrollment, and ancillary costs on the Provider’s profile in the Colorado Preschool Program’s Application System prior to enrollment. These costs shall include the overall out-of-pocket cost to the family inclusive of all charges and fees the Provider will or may charge for the 2025-26 school year. Provider is prohibited from charging a fee that is not posted on the Provider’s profile in the Colorado Preschool Program’s Application System.
Charging extra tuition to families for UPK awarded hours is not allowed.
All other fees and any tuition for hours beyond what has been awarded must be posted on your profile to be allowable.

Charging tuition to families for hours funded by UPK is defined below:

Charging tuition for any hours covered by a UPK rate is forbidden by state law, regulation, and contract. Section 26.5-4-204(3)(a) instructs that providers provide "the number of hours of preschool services established by department rule." UPK Regulation also provides that "Participating providers must agree to guarantee families at least the minimum number of hours defined in rule for the per-child rate that is provided." This requirement is also restated in the Contract, in the Program Requirements section, paragraph 3.
In accordance with law and the Terms of the Contract, if a Provider is charging tuition for hours beyond 10/week, then they will be reconciled to only receive the 10 hour rate since 10 hours is the only amount they guaranteed to families.

How to Share UPK Information with your Families

(Name of your program) is excited to be able to participate in Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program. This program will cover up to 15 hours of preschool for all Colorado children who turn 4 by 10/1/25 (for the 2025-2026 school year).

How It Works

Families will apply to the UPK program starting in February or March each year (based on when they open the application portal). On your UPK application, you’ll indicate you currently attend _(school name)_ and put us down as your first choice. UPK will pay a set amount towards your child’s monthly tuition. For children in attendance who are attending more than 15 hours per week, this will show up as a credit, and parents will be responsible for the remaining tuition, up to our normal rates. Summer care is not covered by UPK (August-May only).

PLEASE DO NOT MARK DOWN _(school name)_ ON YOUR UPK APPLICATION UNLESS YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN GIVEN A SPOT AT THE SCHOOL. We will help you either register or transfer your registration upon acceptance of an opening with us.

Learn more and apply on the UPK Website

Note: UPK will cover 100% of tuition for those enrolled in our M-W half-day and Th/F full-day programs. As we do incur a financial loss with this program, UPK spots for both those schedules are limited and granted to currently enrolled families first.

Please reach out with any questions!

Quality Standards

As outlined in the rule (specifically at § 4.113), beginning July 1, 2024, the Family and Community Engagement quality standard will come into effect, requiring that within six (6) months of participating in the Preschool Program, providers must have and implement policies and procedures (on their website or handbook distributed to families) which ensure:

The use of interpreters or other language resources to effectively communicate in families’ home language;
Seeking input from participating families on priorities, interests, home routines, and cultural and social practices;
Engaging with families on goals that inform the provider’s interactions and instruction with children, including with multilingual learners;
Engaging families and community partners in decision-making on preschool operations;
Involving families in the transition of children into and out of the Preschool Program, including the transition into Kindergarten; and The quality of program-family and program-staff interactions.

Now Accepting QI Applications

ECCLC is still accepting QI Applications for fiscal year 2026! Due to budget cuts at the state level, ECCLC will need to prioritize quality improvement funds and coaching support to:

Programs/Providers who are actively preparing for a rating AND in the queue to be rated.
Programs/Providers who will submit their LEVEL 3-5 application this fiscal year
ALL other applications will be accepted based on availability of funding

Update!!!-If you have a Colorado Shines rating, you MUST submit your LEVEL 3-5 application

6 months prior to the expiration date. This will NOT affect your rating window

Here are the steps to complete for this process:

Update your CCCAP fiscal agreement to ensure it is current (if applicable)
Sign into your Provider Hub (https://www.coloradoshines.com/login) account and update your ALL of your profile tabs (Program details, Classroom, Children, Workforce, High Needs)
Click on the Apply for QI funds on the homepage
ECCLC is reviewing applications daily

Please contact Heather Soderberg (hsoderberg@ecclc.org) with specific questions.

Colorado Universal Preschool Data

Family Dates & Action Items

Families can pre-register with a known provider to continue care for a child currently enrolled, with a sibling currently enrolled, or with a family member currently employed with a Universal Preschool Provider. Families can apply here or work directly with their preferred provider to apply.

December 17 - February 3: Pre-registration application window for families requesting Continuity of Care placements.
February 3 - 10: Window for families to accept or decline their match.

Family-to-Provider Matching Rounds:

Families just starting their path to preschool can browse more than 2,000 high-quality, licensed providers, see if they qualify for additional hours, select their top ten preferred programs to be matched, and submit an application from December 17 through March 3.

February 5: Deadline to apply to be matched in the first family-to-provider matching round.
February 24: Families are notified of first-round matches. Families are asked to accept or decline by March 3.

Enrollment forms in the UPK Portal for 25-26 years are not available. Do not enroll children for 25-26 years yet.

Matching:

The new school year is here. If you have already been matched with a Provider and accepted that match, congratulations, you are ready to go. We do recommend that you still reach out to your provider to ensure all enrollment forms have been completed. If you are a family still interested in getting a placement for the 2024-25 school year, good news we are still here to help. Families can still be placed through a Direct Enrollment option, working directly with providers to facilitate both a match and enrollment.

Starting August 1st applications will automatically be sent to providers listed as your first or second choice for a potential match. At that point, they will continue the enrollment process and accept the match for you.

For families still seeking a match or who would like to transfer to a different UPK provider, please review the information below to proceed with a direct placement.

Direct Enrollment:

For families still seeking a match, please review the information below to move forward with a direct placement.

Step 1. Log into an existing account at http://upk.colorado.gov, or create an account (one account per family) if you have not yet submitted an application, please continue with step 2.
- Tip. If you already completed and submitted an application but have not yet been matched, please move forward with step 2 below.
Step 2. Browse providers in your area and contact providers you are interested in to confirm whether or not they have a seat available
- Tip. We strongly recommend engaging in a conversation with the provider in advance to increase the likelihood of a successful match and placement
Step 3. Once you identify a provider with an available seat, let that provider know you will be adding them to your application
- Tip. The process is so quick and simple you could complete the next few steps while you are actually meeting with the provider should you choose
Step 4. Log into your application and make sure that the provider and program are listed in your application and in a selected status
Step 5. Once you save the updated selection, the provider will be able to immediately accept the match
Step 6. Once you receive and accept the match, you can complete the enrollment forms with the provider

Transferring a Match:

Families, if you are currently in an ENROLLED status but want to transfer providers, your current provider must unenroll you first. Once unenrolled, you can add the new program you'd like to match with. Please be sure this new provider is listed #1 in your application. You must contact the new provider to let them know you've made this change and would like to match. The new provider will need to 'accept/decline' on their end, and then you must do the same on yours before you can be enrolled again and eligible for UPK payments.

IEP Direct Enrollment:

February 29th through the end of the 2024 – 2025 school year: Special Education Administrative Units (AUs) and school districts will request placement of students with IEPs. Providers will accept matches within 2 weeks of receiving a match. Families of a child with an IEP will have until 6/30/25 to accept their match, we ask that they accept within two weeks.
All updates needed for children with IEPs must be handled by the AU. Please refer families and providers directly to the AU for further assistance.
- - Please do not use tasks or email to send information related to a child with an IEP; not even a child’s unique application ID.
  - The AU will reach out to Angela Delin if they need further assistance.

Additional Hours:

If you are matched to a PART-TIME (10 hours) or HALF-DAY (15 hours) program, your options are listed below:

No action is required if you do not want to change from 10-15 hours per week to 30 hours per week.
If you do want to make a change from 10-15 hours per week to 30 hours per week, please follow these steps:
- Contact your Universal Preschool provider to see if they offer and have space in a full-day program.
- If they do, email your Local Coordinating Organization (LCO)—with the provider on copy about the transfer—and the LCO will submit the request to CDEC.
- If your Universal Preschool provider does not offer or have space in a full-day program, you will need to edit your program preferences starting May 8, please email: upk@ecclc.org for support
If you receive and accept a match from a provider that has a full-day program and open availability, you must then complete all registration forms with the provider to ensure you receive this funding for additional hours.

Payments:

Families, if you have questions about payments made to your provider on your behalf, please email: coupkpayments@metrixiq.com

Reminders:

A Universal Preschool Program is the number of hours a child is scheduled to attend each week. Universal Preschool funding covers the number of hours a child receives based on their eligibility.
A child can enroll in a program schedule that is more hours than their Universal Preschool funding will cover. The hours covered by Universal Preschool must be completely free to the family, but families will be responsible for tuition for any hours beyond what their Universal Preschool award covers based on the provider’s tuition rate.
- For example, suppose a child is enrolled in a full-day program (30-40 hours) and qualifies for the standard 15 hours of Universal Preschool funding. In that case, 15 hours will be fully covered by Universal Preschool funding, and the family will be responsible for tuition for the other +16 hours.

Family Resources & Support

- Universal Preschool Colorado Help Desk Ticket - Use this form to submit questions to the Universal Preschool Colorado help desk.
- Please see additional information in the updated https://bit.ly/upkfamilyhandbook (pages 21 - 23)
- Families can start browsing providers and review their eligibility for the program at http://upk.colorado.gov
- Program Website: Review the estimated enrollment timeline on the website. More information and resources are expected in the coming weeks. For additional support, find your Local Coordinating Organization contact information.
- Have more questions or need help with Universal Preschool Colorado? Contact us using this short form or call tel:3038665223.
- Subscribe to our Colorado Universal Preschool Newsletter! We appreciate your continued support, partnership, and input! – Colorado Universal Preschool Team