The University of Colorado has signed an agreement with OpenAI to provide secure access to ChatGPT EDU for students, faculty, and staff at all four campuses and the system office. Each campus and the system office will operate its own dedicated ChatGPT environment. This approach is intended to promote equitable access while maintaining privacy, security, and data governance standards. The agreement can be renewed annually.
University leaders say this initiative demonstrates CU’s commitment to ensuring that all students have access to new technology tools needed for today’s workforce. “Equitable access to this emerging technology is essential for our students and employees,” said CU President Todd Saliman. “By investing at the system level, CU is helping remove barriers and ensuring that all members of our community can engage with these tools, regardless of discipline or background.”
ChatGPT EDU will be available to full-time and part-time students, as well as faculty and staff who use university-issued email credentials. According to the agreement, OpenAI will not use any content from CU ChatGPT EDU environments or users to train its language models.
CU Boulder Chancellor Justin Schwartz noted that generative AI tools like ChatGPT are already widely used by members of the university community but using institutional data on public platforms could create security risks. He stated, “Our data shows that generative AI tools, particularly ChatGPT, are already widely used by CU faculty, staff and students. But using institutional data on the public platform can expose students, faculty, staff and the university to security risks. Through this agreement, ChatGPT EDU will offer a secure, institutionally supported alternative that better protects our data and meets users where they already are.”
Before accessing the tool, users must complete a short training about appropriate use and privacy considerations. Additional resources will be offered for academic, research, and administrative applications.
UCCS Chancellor Jennifer Sobanet commented on current AI usage across campus: “Across UCCS, people are already experimenting with AI, as well as becoming proficient and expert users. Generative AI, natural language processing, machine learning and other AI tools are becoming part of how we teach, learn and work,” she said. “By offering a secure, institutionally supported option, we’re reducing risk to university data and meeting our faculty, staff and students where they are, while also launching UCCS into the future. This agreement empowers our community to use AI thoughtfully and responsibly.”
The move follows recommendations from the President’s AI Working Group—a committee made up of faculty and staff with relevant expertise—which evaluated commercial options based on principles such as privacy protection and sustainability.
For the first year of licensing—covering 100,000 users—the cost is about $2 million per year; this will be paid by the CU system office initially before campuses take over costs in later years.
CU Anschutz Chancellor Don Elliman spoke about benefits already seen in healthcare settings: “At CU Anschutz, we’re already seeing how thoughtfully deployed AI tools can enhance patient care expedite scientific research and enrich the educational experience,” he said. “This program is the next step in our ongoing investment in AI…”
Officials acknowledged environmental concerns related to artificial intelligence adoption but affirmed their commitment to align usage with sustainability goals aimed at lowering energy consumption across campuses.
Existing policies regarding academic freedom or conduct codes remain unchanged under this rollout; individual faculty members decide if or how these tools may be used in classrooms.
“We have a responsibility to teach our students proper and ethical uses of technology in order to position them for success in the job market,” said CU Denver Chancellor Kenneth T. Christensen. “We also have an obligation to deploy tools that help increase efficiencies for employees in their daily roles so that they have more time to enhance and elevate the educational experience of our students.”
The rollout is scheduled for March 31; further guidance will come from each campus when access becomes available.
