Metropolitan State College no longer will charge out-of-state tuition to Colorado residents who are U.S. citizens but whose parents are here illegally.

In an e-mail to Metro's administration Thursday, President Stephen Jordan said he has directed admissions officials to begin granting in-state tuition to students who qualify as legal residents of the state but cannot prove the status of their parents.

Those students - unless they were emancipated from their parents - were previously charged higher nonresident rates, a policy that Jordan said was based on past opinions from the attorney general's office and directives from the Colorado Department of Higher Education.

"They tied the residency status of the student to that of the parent," he said.

But Jordan changed course after discovering that other colleges and universities were not interpreting the laws and regulations that way.

The University of Colorado, Colorado State University and the Community College system apply in-state tuition to U.S. citizens born to illegal immigrants.

Last week, higher education chief David Skaggs asked Attorney General John Suthers to clarify state law on the residency status of those students. Skaggs also said he would seek legislative action to ensure that legal residents receive in-state tuition regardless of their parents' status.

"If we were to treat two U.S. citizens who have the same characteristics differently because of family lineage - I don't think that would pass constitutional muster," -Skaggs said.

Skaggs estimates that fewer than 75 students statewide are affected by the issue. Metro has received an application from only one student who would be affected by the change in policy. But Jordan said that the school also may go through its records to find any students already attending the college who also might fall into that category.

Students admitted under the new rules would receive in-state tuition provisionally and could find themselves paying out-of-state rates if the attorney general rules against their cause.