SOARING costs are preventing the poorest students from attending university, researchers warned yesterday, as the Tories consider plans to scrap the cap on fees completely.

The report, produced by the National Education Opportunities Network, found that young people who are eligible for free school meals would be most likely to reconsider going to university following an increase in fees, followed by Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students.

The research, which was based on an online survey of 1,500 students and two focus groups, found that BME young people and those receiving free school meals were most likely to choose low-cost university options if tuition fees were variable.

BME students were more likely to live at home while at university to keep down costs.

It also found that the availability of maintenance grants would have the most impact on BME students in encouraging them to apply for university.

Lecturer’ union UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said it was “a travesty that the rising cost of tuition fees would be most likely to deter young people from the most disadvantaged backgrounds from going to university.”

Ms Hunt said that Tory plans to lift the current £9,000 cap on tuition fees risked “damaging progress made” to widen participation and “risked creating a polarised university system of haves and have-nots where costs determines young people’s choices.”

Ms Hunt warned that the study also revealed that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who choose to go to university “are more likely to put cost at the forefront of their decision-making — often opting for institutions close to home which offer cheaper study that can be combined with part-time work.”

Sutton Trust and Education Endowment Foundation chairman Sir Peter Lampl said it was “worrying that young people are limiting their options due to the abolition of grants, and others seem unaware of the high level of debt — the highest in the English speaking world — that they will face after leaving university.”

Mr Lampl called for a “rethink on reintroducing grants” and a “big expansion in good higher and degree level apprenticeships.”