Universities are seeking highest top-up fees

The vast majority of universities are planning to charge the maximum £3,000 a year top-up fee for three-year degree courses, a survey undertaken by The Independent reveals.

Only one out of 50 English universities in thesurvey is to break ranks and charge a lower figure - Leeds Metropolitan University, which is opting for £2,000 across the board.

The numbers expected to charge the maximum are way above the estimation made by ministers. They said the £3,000 a year figure was likely to be introduced for about 80 per cent of courses.

The situation is bound to fuel claims by vice-chancellors such as Sir Richard Sykes of Imperial College, London, that the £3,000 a year figure is too low to create a market in higher education.

Today's survey is the first to be completed after most universities have submitted their proposals to the Government's new "access tsar" for permission to charge higher fees. Previous research only showed an indication of what universities intended to do.

Those which have already fixed a figure include virtually every member of the Russell Group - which represents the country's top 19 research institutions - and newer universities such as Lincoln and Leicester.

Oxford Brookes University, the former polytechnic next to Oxford University, is also planning the maximum charge. Some are worried their courses will look second-class if they fail to charge the maximum.

The survey also uncovered that millions of pounds are to be ploughed into help for those from the poorest homes, with scholarships of up to £5,000 a year and plans to plough back up to 25 per cent of fee income into aid to students.

The findings of the survey, completed by 50 universities, are bound to mean Labour will face immediate pressure to increase the £3,000 ceiling if re-elected for a third term. Ministers are so far sticking to a pledge that it will not be raised - except for inflation - until the end of the next Parliament. However, opponents believe that will - at the very least - not stop them making arrangements for a higher fee once the next election is over.

The clamour to increase the figure has won a new champion in Lord Moser, the former head of the Government's statistical service who chaired a national inquiry into education standards, who urged ministers to raise it as soon as possible.

Otherwise, he warned, universities faced a gradual deterioration in standards. A lack of government cash would also "harden the desire" of the Russell Group universities to go private and abandon the state-supported system.

"To cover the future needs of the sector, it seems to me inevitable that the cap of £3,000 be raised as soon as politically feasible," he added in a hitherto unpublicised lecture to the British Academy. "This will obviously require a strong system of maintenance grants and bursaries or scholarships to support the less well-off."

Universities have to submit their plans for top-up fees to the Government's new Office for Fair Admissions. In exchange for permission to charge top-up fees, they will have to agree a code of conduct on moves to widen participation in higher education to students from disadvantaged areas. OFFA has told universities that - if they submit their applications by the beginning of January - they will get a decision by March.

However, the survey revealed that one in four have yet to make their final decision. As theseinclude several with the highest drop-out rates, which have more difficulty in attracting students, it could be that Leeds Metropolitan will not be the only one to break ranks once all 89 universities in England have made their final decisions.

The survey also revealed that some colleges with degree-awarding status will refuse to opt for the maximum fee. Two, Leeds Trinity and All Saints College and the College of St Mark and St John, Plymouth, indicated their maximum charge would be £2,700 a year. This is in line with government cash support for students from the poorest homes.

The survey also revealed most universities are planning a massive boost to the number of bursaries and scholarships they are offering. University College London is planning to pay £5,000 to all students from the poorest backgrounds who opt for four-year degree courses - with one year spent studying abroad. Oxford University is increasing its bursaries from £1 million a year to £5.5m, with maximum £4,000-a-year bursaries for first-year students with household incomes of less than £16,000 a year.

Leeds Metropolitan breaks ranks to attract students

The only university to break ranks over tuition fees is the 41,000-student Leeds Metropolitan. The former polytechnic will introduce an annual £2,000 tuition fee from 2006.

Leeds Metropolitan faces immense competition locally with the older, more traditional, Leeds University.

Insiders were saying its decision to charge a lower fee could help it attract students from those families whose income is just above the level at which they would receive government help.

Nimble Thompson, who chairs the university's governors, said: "We are proud to become the first university to offer the lower fee and believe it reinforces everything that the university stands for - high quality education but at an affordable price."

Critics say a university that opts for a lower fee will immediately gain a reputation for poor quality courses - a claim Leeds Metropolitan rejects.

UCL aims to be the first to guarantee students bursary

University College London is typical of the traditional universities which will be charging £3,000 across the board.

Its 175-year history makes it the first university in England to be established after Oxford and Cambridge. However, ever since its founding it has given access to every student on merit. It was also the first university in England to welcome women on equal terms with men.

As a result, it is leading the way on offering bursaries to help students from less well-off homes. UCL is aiming to become the first in the country to guarantee students from the poorest homes a £5,000 bursary if they opt for a four-year degree course. Michael Worton, UCL's vice-provost, said: "We're trying to encourage more students to opt for a longer period of study." The plan is one of several measures drawn up by UCL to help youngsters from deprived communities.