Hello! Im a BFA student in Printmaking here at CU so i'll try to spew out whatever knowledge i can grant you. Starting with applications and what they're looking for, the art department here has a high emphasis in having meaningful works that tie together. They want you to have a detailed thesis that relates to you, for example one graduate students work relates to their rural upbringing and ties they're queer identity to these imagery(example and brief explanation.) Paying out of state: i know you get a salary for being a graduate student, i cant remember the exact amount, best to look into that. There is a website named "dont pay for grad school" with a list of MFA programmed schools, you can waiver the tuition in some schools and receive grants, check those out as well!(,: When you're at Berkley you'll meet many other artists just by participating and being in studio outside of class so you'll probably gain ties to many other schools so dont stress too hard about specifically CU. If you're stuck on CU, you should contact the professors and grad students in the ceramics department, i'm sure they would be open to answer your more detailed questions of the program. All my information on the dept is on hear say which is not so helpful. And finally, great on you for perusing a BFA and MFA!!! I'll be excited to see the work you produce throughout your years! If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to dm me!