Anyone of a certain age probably has a good idea of what a ‘Golden Ticket’ is, certainly anyone with children is likely familiar. For those who aren’t, it’s that ticket from Roald Dahl’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ that provides entrée to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. To a kid, it’s beyond gold!
But there’s a real life ‘golden ticket’ in Denver and it’s there for everyone. It sits right on the edge of center city on Denver’s Auraria Higher Educational Campus. With just a hint of hyperbole and a voice teeming with pride, longtime higher education champion Jim Chavez calls it the “most unique college in the country.” Chavez, Director of the Community College of Denver’s Foundation and Governmental Affairs, is happy to share his enthusiasm for the school he describes as a life changing experience for students and “perfect place to continue education.”
Chavez, former Executive Director of Denver’s Latin American Educational Foundation, an organization that has for decades awarded scholarship money to thousands of young Latino students, says CCD is a great launching pad for recent high school graduates starting life’s journey. It is also a perfect option for others simply looking to sharpen their skills, learn new ones or simply find a new North Star that may take them to a place they’ve never been before or, perhaps, even imagined. CCD, said Chavez, is an educational adventure that presents “really great opportunities.”
For a recent high school graduate uncertain of what college is or what doors it might open, CCD, said Chavez, is an affordable way of dipping a toe into the higher education pond. And while it almost certainly will help construct a new, sturdier intellectual as well as practical foundation, its affordability is just another great selling point. Its costs, Chavez said, are “one of our great advantages.”
For a full-time student, combined fall and spring semesters, tuition is around $5,500 a year. But because nearly two thirds of the school’s enrollment is part-time, costs for most are significantly less. Financial aid, something most CCD students rely on, is also available.
While CCD is one of three pillars on the sprawling Auraria Higher Education Campus—Metropolitan State University-Denver and CU-Denver are the other two—it is often, and inexplicably, overshadowed. But it’s been serving students since 1967. It also carries an HSI designation, meaning it qualifies as a Hispanic Serving Institute, a school with at least 25 percent full-time Latino student enrollment.
The school, Chavez believes, is one of the state’s best kept educational secrets. As for selling points, he lists its open enrollment and free application process as just two of its great advantages. He circles back, once again, to underscoring its very affordable tuition. At graduation, most students leave with little to no college debt. They also leave knowing they’ll be earning an estimated five dollars more per hour for every dollar invested in their CCD education.
With a new semester now underway—the 2026-27 school year began August 17th—students are now spread across more than a hundred areas of specialization. Included among them are disciplines are “Health care,” Chavez said, is an “area of real demand,” and one CCD has covered. Local employers are regulars at campus job fairs, too.
One of the school’s off campus programs is its dental hygiene program which is located at the Center for Health Sciences at Lowry, at 1070 Alton Way. It is consistently rated among the best in the region. But CCD also offers other top flights programs including its medical assistant and surgical technology programs. Each has been a pipeline for employment for a number of years. CCD also offers students career training in veterinarian care.
Adapting to the needs of a 21st Century world, CCD now offers an associate’s degree in cyber security. Having a workforce armed with the skills to battle against adversaries that threaten data security, infrastructure security and so much more has become a 21st essential line of defense. Wars with enemies, sometimes national, other times single adversaries and invisible antagonists, are no longer conflicts that can be handled by a semi-skilled workforce. Cyber security professionals are today’s first wall of defense in an era of stealth warfare.
CCD understands that not every young person is set on the same career path. As such, its Advanced Manufacturing Center helps students polish their skills in disciplines that will always be in high demand. It offers associate’s degrees or certificate programs in machining, computer-aided drafting and design and welding at its 38th and Fox location. CCD even offers a path for a Bachelor’s Degree.
There are, Chavez preaches, “really great opportunities…more than a hundred pathways” in different fields for students, no matter their age or interests. “Our average student age is almost 25,” he says. They include young men and women returning to polish or acquire new skills and, in many cases, young people still in high school but already earning college credits.
For these students, the opportunity to earn transferable college credits for minimal costs while still in high school is almost too hard to ignore or to pass up. For high school students interested in this opportunity, it’s suggested they speak with their school counselors. There will always be a place for them at CCD.
Not every CCD student will be the next Andrea Albo, said Chavez. But Albo, not unlike the scores of new freshmen at the precipice of a new chapter, took the tools acquired at CCD and catapulted to the top of the ladder at Denver’s Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) where she serves today as Executive Director. Along the way she has also served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Vice President of Culture and Strategy at DIA, Chief of Staff for the Denver Sheriff’s Department and Deputy Executive Director for the Denver Department of Human Services.
There is a ‘golden ticket’ waiting for anyone at CCD, said Chavez. For more information, call the Community College of Denver at 303-556-2600 or visit its website at www.ccd.edu.
