SEPTEMBER 5, 2025 | NEWS | By Sydney McGarr (News Editor)
After five years, Colorado College has officially put an end to the Stroud Scholars Program, a three-year college-preparatory program for high school students in the Pikes Peak region.
The program allowed students to spend parts of their summers living on the Colorado College campus receiving academic mentorship and guidance about the college application and financial aid process.
The students could be admitted to CC and offered significant financial aid or scholarships, or admitted to another college or university.
In 2025, CC hosted a total of 69 Stroud Scholars from six school districts in the Pikes Peak region.
Only 10% of Stroud Scholars have chosen to attend CC, and two of those students ended up leaving the college, a statistic that contributed to the decision to close the program’s doors.
“From the very beginning, Stroud has sought to open doors- both to higher education broadly and to Colorado College,” Dean of the College and Chief Operating Officer Pedro de Araujo said in a statement.
“While we’ve been successful in opening doors to the college, fewer Stroud scholars have chosen to walk through the CC door than we had hoped.”
According to the Stroud Scholars website, leaders of the program are “proud of what Stroud has accomplished.” Still, it has “not been successful at its intended recruitment outcomes for Colorado College.”
The program– named after two of the first Black students to graduate from Colorado College in 1931– was founded by Colorado College’s Collaborative for Community Engagement. The Frequently Asked Questions section of the Stroud Scholars website says the sunset of the program had nothing to do with the school’s anti-racism commitment or the Trump administration’s restrictions on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts.
“While we are aware of recent government edicts, this decision was made prior to the most recent release and was based on an assessment of our program and College needs,” the website says.
“The college remains committed to becoming a More Just CC as evidenced through the establishment of the Institutional Equity and Belonging office as well as the shift of support to the enrollment office to support college preparatory programming to allow students to not only thrive in college, but thrive at CC.”
While the school will not recruit any new Stroud Scholars, the current scholars within the program will continue through 2028. CC plans to continue its pre-college program, which will re-launch in Summer 2026 with financial aid available.