A day to remember

Some of life’s best moments are those unexpected delights. Learning that your favorite restaurant isn’t closing after all. Waking up late for work and realizing you have the day off. Running into a friend you hadn’t seen in years. Pulling a $20 bill out of that pair of pants you never wear.

But for Dylan Hoffpauir a memory that stands out is showing up for his first semester as a CSU College of Business MBA student and finding $30,000.

“I was like, ‘Wait, what?’”

He had just sat down to talk with his advisor, Cynthia Scarpa, when she told him that the previous day the program he had been accepted into was approved for WICHE and that after a brief application process, he would receive in-state tuition.

“I had never even heard of WICHE,” said Hoffpauir, who moved from Idaho to Fort Collins to pursue his MBA.

He quickly learned that WICHE – the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education – is made up of more than a dozen member states across the western U.S. Among other initiatives, the organization allows students who are residents of WICHE member states to attend select master’s programs anywhere in the region and pay in-state tuition, saving over 1,500 students a total of $23.3 million in 2016.

“It’s awesome,” said Hoffpauir, who also got a job working as a graduate assistant 10 hours a week after arriving at CSU, which cut his base tuition in half.

WICHE at Colorado State University

At CSU, students who decide to pursue the Impact MBA from qualifying WICHE member states will have access to in-state tuition rates.

A new community

“I wanted to get out of Boise and experience something new, and Colorado is an awesome place. It seems like everyone I meet here is not from Colorado. People are coming here for a reason.”

For Hoffpauir, Fort Collins is the perfect balance between big city and small town, with outdoor recreation from hiking to mountain biking and snowboard just a short drive away, and Denver a short trip down the interstate.

“The people are nice like would be in a small town,” added Hoffpauir. “I love it.”

The MBA program also operates on a cohort model where students stay together in classes throughout the curriculum and build strong relationships together as they work toward graduation.

“Our cohort has done all types of events already. We went to Topgolf after the career fair in Denver; we did a tailgate after the football game; and we’re getting pretty close already,” said Hoffpauir.