How to renew your Colorado RN license
Colorado RN licenses renew every two years on September 30, and Colorado requires zero continuing education hours — renewal is an attestation and a fee. Which September 30 is yours depends on your original issuance date, not on a statewide even-year cycle. A 60-day grace period after expiration lets you keep practicing without a board sanction.
- Cycle
- 2 years, expiring September 30 — odd or even years, assigned by issuance date
- CE required
- None. Zero hours, no mandatory topics, no audit
- Next deadline
- September 30, 2026 (even-year cohort); September 30, 2027 (odd-year cohort)
- Renewal window
- Opens roughly 4–6 weeks before expiration
- Grace period
- 60 days — you may practice without a disciplinary sanction under C.R.S. § 12-20-202(1)(e); a delinquency fee is still owed
- Portal
- DPO Online Services
- Compact
- Colorado is a full eNLC member — the compact license is the default
- Read your real expiration dateLog into DPO Online Services now and read your actual expiration date — do not assume the year. Colorado RN licenses expire September 30 of odd or even years, assigned by your issuance date, not a statewide cohort.
- Watch for the renewal linkThe renewal link appears roughly 4–6 weeks before your expiration date. There is no early-summer renewal option.
- Answer the attestation questionsConfirm criminal history, out-of-state discipline, conditions affecting safe practice, and that your contact information is current.
- Pay the fee shown on screenThe fee is not published anywhere else — pay whatever amount DPO Online Services displays for your renewal.
- Renew each authority separatelyAPRNs and RXN holders renew the RN license and then each additional authority separately — none of them renew automatically with the RN.
- Save the renewed license to TrustStore the confirmation so a future audit or employer request is a two-minute task.
Requirements
Two things almost every published Colorado guide gets wrong, and both are worth stating flatly.
First: it is not "September 30 of even years." The board's own words: "All Registered Nurse licenses expire on September 30 of odd or even-numbered years and are dependent upon the issuance date." The month and day are fixed statewide; the year is not. There are two permanent RN cohorts. Do not assume your parity — read your expiration date in DPO Online Services. (The only nursing credential on a guaranteed even-year cycle is the LPN, August 31; CNAs are odd years, January 31.)
Second: there is no CE requirement. The board states it directly: "Continuing education hours are not currently required in order to renew a Registered Nurse, Practical Nurse, Nurse Aide Certification, or Psychiatric Technician license in Colorado." For APRNs: "There are no additional continuing education requirements other than what is required to maintain professional certification."
What Colorado requires instead: log into DPO Online Services inside the window, answer the attestation questions (criminal history, out-of-state discipline, conditions affecting safe practice, contact-information currency), and pay the fee. There is no CE upload, no CE attestation, and no CE audit for a plain RN license.
The one exception: APRNs and Certified Midwives with prescriptive authority must complete 2 hours per renewal period of substance-use / opioid-prescribing training under Rule 3 CCR 716-1.23. It is satisfiable by CE courses, self-study of scholarly articles or guidelines, peer-review proceedings involving opioid prescribing, relevant volunteer service, or conference attendance. You attest to compliance or exemption at renewal, and the board may audit — so prescribers should retain proof.
Fees
| Fee | Amount | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| RN biennial renewal | Amount: Not published by the board — read the amount off the renewal screen | When: Inside the renewal window |
| Late fee (during the 60-day grace period) | Amount: Not published | When: Oct 1 – ~Nov 29 |
| Reinstatement | Amount: Not published; the obligation is confirmed (Rule 1.1 G.4: "must pay an application fee") | When: Day 61 onward |
| Inactive / retired renewal | Amount: Not published — but inactive and retired licenses must still be renewed every cycle | When: Every cycle |
| Military exemption | Amount: Fee waived | When: Qualifying service — see FAQ |
Colorado is the one state in this batch where a renewal amount is deliberately left blank on this page. DORA publishes no nursing fee schedule on any reachable page; the Applications page says only "all fees and mailing instructions are available on the respective applications and forms," and the amounts live inside the logged-in portal. Third-party sites currently disagree by more than 2× ($108 vs. $51), and the fee has been artificially depressed by legislated fee relief — HB22-1298 transferred $11,720,278 from the general fund "to facilitate fee relief for nurses, nurse aides, and psychiatric technicians," spending down "until fully expended," so the number moves. We won't publish a number we can't verify — that's the opposite of what a CE seller does.
What Colorado requires instead
There is no mandatory topic list and no hour count for a plain RN renewal — the requirement is zero. What the board actually requires is an attestation: criminal history, out-of-state discipline, conditions affecting safe practice, and current contact information, filed inside the renewal window along with the fee.
The single exception is prescriber-specific: APRNs and Certified Midwives with prescriptive authority owe 2 hours per renewal period of substance-use / opioid-prescribing training under Rule 3 CCR 716-1.23, satisfiable through CE courses, self-study of scholarly articles or guidelines, peer-review proceedings, relevant volunteer service, or conference attendance. Everyone else's employer requirements, specialty certifications, and BLS/ACLS cards remain separate obligations that are not Colorado state law.
What changed this cycle
- SB26-138 (Reducing Administrative Burdens on Health Care), effective August 12, 2026 — repeals the requirement that health-care regulators mandate up to 4 credit hours of prescribing/treatment training per licensing cycle. A statutory path toward a mandatory per-cycle training requirement that would have reached nurses was repealed two weeks before this page was last verified. Colorado RNs stay CE-free.
- HB26-1044 (Black Maternal Health Equity), effective May 5, 2026 — directs the Board of Nursing's continuing-education rules to address cultural competence and equity. Because Colorado has no RN CE requirement, the practical reach is most likely the prescriber rule and future rulemaking. Worth watching.
- SB25-152, effective June 1, 2026 — nurses must wear a name tag showing their license type and verbally communicate it to patients.
- HB26-1296, effective May 5, 2026 — new disciplinary ground for willful failure to comply with death-certificate medical certification.
- Rule amendments to 3 CCR 716-1 effective March 17, 2026 and December 15, 2025 brought the multistate-licensure rule into line with the 2024 Nurse Licensure Compact program.
- A sunset review of the Board of Nursing is open right now; the statutory sunset is September 1, 2027. If Colorado's zero-CE posture is ever revisited, the 2027 sunset bill is the vehicle.
Your first renewal after licensure
Colorado handles the first cycle with a cycle-assignment rule, not a prorated fee. The board's License Expiration Bump Period: "All new applicants who are issued a license within 120 days of the upcoming renewal expiration date will be issued a license with the next expiration date."
- Licensed roughly June 3 – September 30 → you are bumped to the following September 30. A nurse licensed July 15, 2026 does not renew on 9/30/2026; their first term runs to 9/30/2028 (about 2 years 2.5 months).
- Licensed outside that window → your first period is genuinely shorter than two years, and there is no prorated fee. A nurse licensed February 2025 had a ~20-month first term expiring 9/30/2026 and paid full price.
- This bump rule is the mechanism that creates the odd/even split in the first place.
- No CE either way — there is none to prorate.
How to renew, step by step
- 01Read your real expiration dateLog into DPO Online Services now and read your actual expiration date — do not assume the year. Colorado RN licenses expire September 30 of odd or even years, assigned by your issuance date, not a statewide cohort.
- 02Watch for the renewal linkThe renewal link appears roughly 4–6 weeks before your expiration date. There is no early-summer renewal option.
- 03Answer the attestation questionsConfirm criminal history, out-of-state discipline, conditions affecting safe practice, and that your contact information is current.
- 04Pay the fee shown on screenThe fee is not published anywhere else — pay whatever amount DPO Online Services displays for your renewal.
- 05Renew each authority separatelyAPRNs and RXN holders renew the RN license and then each additional authority separately — none of them renew automatically with the RN.
- 06Save the renewed license to TrustStore the confirmation so a future audit or employer request is a two-minute task.
If you're late
Days 1–60 after September 30: the license is technically expired, but C.R.S. § 12-20-202(1)(e) gives a 60-day grace period to renew "without the imposition of a disciplinary sanction by the regulator for the profession for practicing on an expired license." You may practice. But the grace period is not free — the same statute conditions it on satisfying all renewal requirements and paying a delinquency fee. This is still a renewal, not a reinstatement. The Board of Nursing's own website is silent on the grace period, so the statute is the only citable source.
Two caveats: the grace period protects you from the board, not from your employer — many facilities pull staff off the schedule on October 1 regardless, and a Nursys lookup will show "expired." And if you hold a multistate license, expiration takes your privilege in every other compact state with it.
Day 61 onward: expired. Rule 1.1 G.1 — "ineligible to practice until such license is reinstated." Expired or inactive under 2 years: application plus fee only, no CE, no refresher, no exam. 2 to under 5 years: the Program Director may accept proof of competency through 20 contact hours of continuing education for each two years without an active license — the only contact-hour number that exists for a Colorado RN, and it is a reinstatement remedy, not a renewal requirement. 5 years or more: competency through successful completion of remedial or refresher courses under a restricted license. NCLEX re-examination is never required as a lapse remedy at any threshold.
APRNs: reinstating an authority requires proof you maintained national certification in each role and population focus. Certification lapsed while you were inactive? The authority cannot be reinstated on the RN license alone.
Colorado is a full eNLC member (SB 18-027, signed January 18, 2018), and notably the compact license is the default in Colorado — "all Colorado applications are processed according to compact requirements." You do not opt in. Since January 2, 2024, changing your primary state of residence to another compact state requires applying for a license there within 60 days. Move to a non-compact state and Colorado converts your multistate license to single-state within 15 days.
Frequently asked questions
- How many CE hours do I need to renew my Colorado RN license?
- Zero. The board states plainly that continuing education is not required to renew an RN license in Colorado. Nurses buy CE bundles for Colorado renewal every cycle that the board never asks for. Your employer, your specialty certification, and your BLS/ACLS cards are separate obligations — none of them is Colorado state law.
- Do all Colorado RN licenses expire in even years?
- No, and this is the most common error in published guides. September 30 is fixed; the year is not. Your parity was set by your original issuance date. Log into DPO Online Services and read it rather than assuming.
- My license expired October 1 — do I have to stop working?
- No. C.R.S. § 12-20-202(1)(e) gives a 60-day grace period during which you may practice without a board sanction, provided you meet all renewal requirements and pay the delinquency fee. Day 61 is the real cliff. The Board of Nursing's own site doesn't mention the grace period; it's in the statute. Your employer may not honor it — verification lookups will show "expired."
- What does Colorado RN renewal cost?
- The board doesn't publish a fee schedule online — the amount appears inside the renewal application. Colorado has also been running legislated fee relief under HB22-1298, so the number moves. Read it off the renewal screen; don't trust a figure from a third-party site.
- I went inactive — do I still have to renew?
- Yes. Inactive and retired licenses must be renewed every cycle. Inactivating also cancels any APN or prescriptive authority attached to the license — it does not merely suspend them.
- I just got licensed in August. Do I renew next month?
- Probably not. If your license was issued within 120 days of the upcoming September 30, you were bumped to the next cycle under the board's License Expiration Bump Period. Check your actual expiration date in DPO Online Services.
- Is my first renewal fee prorated?
- No. Colorado publishes no proration rule. If you were licensed outside the 120-day bump window, your first term can run genuinely shorter than two years and you still pay full price.
- My license lapsed three years ago — what do I need?
- Competency documentation: the board may accept 20 contact hours of continuing education for each two years without an active license. At five years or more, a refresher course under a restricted license. NCLEX re-examination is never required as a lapse remedy at any threshold.
- Does my APRN authority renew with my RN license?
- No. They share the September 30 date but are separate transactions and must be renewed independently along with the RN license. Compact APN/RXN authorities can only be renewed if your compact RN is active with multistate privileges.
- Can I get the renewal fee waived?
- Possibly, and almost nobody uses this. Service members with qualified active duty in a designated war, emergency or contingency operation, at least 120 days of such service, and a renewal cycle falling within the service period or up to six months after, can be exempted from renewal fees and any competency requirements. Email documentation to dora_dpo_licensing@state.co.us — it is not in the online renewal flow.
Last verified against Colorado State Board of Nursing sources:
Changelog
Every revision to this guide, newest first. Last updated .
- Reviewed and verified requirements, fees, and deadlines against Colorado State Board of Nursing sources.
Trust tracks this renewal for you.
Colorado's deadline is a fixed day but a moving year. Trust stores your issuance date and September 30 expiration and reminds you before the 60-day grace period even starts.
Keep exploring renewals
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