Colorado residents are better educated than the average American. As of 2000, 32.7% of the adult population of Colorado had completed four or more years of college; 86.9% of all adult Coloradans were high school graduates.
In fall 1999, Colorado's public elementary and secondary schools had 708,109 pupils. Of these, 506,568 attended schools from kindergarten through grade eight, and 201,541 attended high school. Minority students made up approximately 33% of the total enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools in 2001. Total enrollment was estimated at 724,508 in fall 2000 and expected to reach 738,000 by fall 2005. Enrollment in nonpublic schools in fall 2001 was 52,142. Expenditures for public education in 2000/01 were estimated at $4,408,670.
As of fall 2000, there were 282,832 students enrolled in institutions of higher education. In the same year Colorado had 74 degree-granting institutions. In 1997, minority students comprised 18.6% of total postsecondary enrollment. The oldest state school is the Colorado School of Mines, founded in Golden in 1869. Although chartered in 1861, the University of Colorado did not open until 1876; its Boulder campus is now the largest in the state. Colorado State University was founded at Ft. Collins in 1870. The University of Denver was chartered in 1864 as the Colorado Seminary of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Colorado is also the home of the United States Air Force Academy.