Metropolitan State College of Denver may approve a new tuition structure that will cut the cost of college for illegal-immigrant students by more than half.

Students who have a diploma from a Colorado high school or a GED and can prove they have been a resident of the state for three years would be eligible for the rate, which would be $3,358.30 per semester for a full-time student, compared with $7,992.60, which is the out-of-state rate now paid by illegal-immigrant students. In-state tuition is $2,896.20 per semester.

A joint meeting of the board of trustees’ academic affairs and finance committees will take up the proposal Wednesday. If it is recommended, the board of trustees will vote on it Thursday. The new rate would take effect for the fall semester.

“We know that this is something that is sure to engender passions, and we’ll see it on both sides of the issue,” Metro State president Stephen Jordan said Monday. “But we feel this is consistent with our mission and the population that we serve.”

The school has been working on the proposal since the trustees’ October retreat, anticipating that the state Advancing Students for a Stronger Economy Tomorrow, or ASSET, bill, which would have lowered tuition rates of illegal immigrants statewide, would not survive the recent legislative session.

Legislative analysts projected that about 500 illegal immigrants in Colorado would have used the new rate created by the ASSET bill. Jordan estimates about 60 percent of those live in the seven-county Denver metro area and about 300 would enroll at Metro State. In addition, about 120 current students would qualify for the rate.

News of the plan brought immediate reaction.

“I understand they (illegal immigrants) can be very bright and ambitious and as Americanized as you and me, but at the end of the day, they can’t get a Social Security number and so they can’t get a job,” said state Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial. “So they would have to lie and cheat and steal to get hired. And if they can’t get hired, then they wouldn’t be able to pay back their student loans.”

Illegal immigrants do not have access to federal financial aid, Jordan said.

The school is taking this action in reaction to the failure of the ASSET bill. It received approval in the state Senate but died in the House Finance Committee.

A staunch supporter of the ASSET bill, Jordan said Metro State hoped the bill would become law but had been working on an alternative. The new rate is 150 percent of the tuition paid by an in-state, resident student, plus a 10 percent fee for capital contributions. In keeping with a state law that prohibits any undocumented person from receiving state benefits, the rate does not include state subsidies.

Before moving forward, Jordan said, Metro State has had conversations with the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, the state agency tasked with overseeing higher education. However, another state legislator said the school might still face some future challenges.

“I’m not comfortable with this,” said Rep. Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen. “They may be sidestepping the process and disregarding the will of the legislature.”

Gerou is chairwoman of the Joint Budget Committee, which represents an important step in determining the funding received by the state’s colleges and universities. The committee is composed of three Republicans and three Democrats. Gerou said Metro State could see some political fallout.

“They’re risking a lot by doing this,” Gerou said. “It could be endangering the funding that’s being given to students doing it the right way. When I vote on funding, I have to feel comfortable with the schools I’m working with. I don’t think they’re being respectful of the process.”

Although any students who pay the proposed new rate would not count toward Metro State’s push to become designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution, the move to create a new tuition structure would further signal the school is providing an environment that is friendly to Latinos, Jordan said.

About 18 percent of Metro State students are Latino, up from 13 percent in 2007. If the school reaches the 25 percent mark, it would be eligible for HSI designation, which would give Metro State access to a large pool of federal funding.

Jordan estimated that the designation would allow Metro State to more than double the funding it receives through federal grants to as much as $35 million.

For the 2011-12 school year, Metro received about $37 million in state funding.

Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com