University of Central Lancashire plans fees of £9,000
(4 days later)
Leeds and Loughborough universities have both announced plans to charge the maximum level of tuition fee - £9,000 a year.
The University of Central Lancashire has announced it plans to charge full tuition fees of £9,000 from 2012.
Leeds is in the Russell Group, whose members have so far all opted to charge the top fee level.
The university said it had given "very careful consideration" to the fee level and wanted to provide students with an "excellent experience".
Loughborough is in the 1994 group, which represents another 19 research-intensive universities.
Meanwhile the University of Portsmouth has said it will charge fees of £8,500 from 2012, while London South Bank has announced fees of £8,390.
University Campus Suffolk has said it will charge £8,000 - with a lower fee of £7,500 for foundation degrees.
Derby University said it plans to charge fees between £6,995 and £7,995.
With the intentions of 24 universities declared, the majority intend to charge fees of £9,000 for their undergraduate degree courses.
Leeds, Loughborough and Kent have all announced plans to charge the maximum - £9,000 a year - in recent days.
The government had modelled its plans for university funding on an estimate that universities would charge £7,500 for fees on average.
Ministers have warned that further cuts might be made to teaching budgets if too many universities set higher fees.
Ministers have warned that further cuts might be made to university teaching budgets if too many universities plump for higher amounts.
All fees are subject to approval by the Office of Fair Access (OFFA).
Originally, it had said it expected universities to charge £9,000 only in "exceptional circumstances", but universities are independent bodies and most say they need to charge maximum fees to make up for cuts to their teaching grants.
The government's changes to university funding are based on the idea that fees will rise and replace money being taken from teaching budgets.
Expectations
Leeds' University's pro vice chancellor of student education, Professor Vivien Jones, told BBC Radio Leeds why the institution had decided to charge £9,000 a year.
"Universities of all kinds across the country, when they have done, as we have, very careful calculations about what it costs to teach a student, to give them a good quality education, have realised that the government's expectation that an average of £7,500 would be a likely fee just does not cover what it costs," she said.
Leeds' other university - Leeds Metropolitan - is to charge £8,500.
Institutions wanting to charge more than £6,000 must gain the approval of the Office for Fair Access and show that they are encouraging applications from students from low-income groups and supporting them financially.
Students at UCS receive joint degrees from the University of East Anglia and the University of Essex.
Professor Mike Saks, UCS provost, said: "Our fees represent excellent value for money and will enable us to cover our costs in an increasingly tightly run and cost-effective institution."
