GOVERNMENT promises of reducing tuition fees without increasing public funding “is a con,” anti-cuts campaigners said today after university chiefs claimed that tuition fee cuts hit poor students.

Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, argued that cutting tuition fees from the current £9,250 a year to £6,500 would hit disadvantaged students hardest.

The warning followed a government commission examining higher education funding in England that is reportedly considering decreasing fees.

National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) member Ana Oppenheim said education is “not a product to be bought and sold” and that it should be freely available.

She told the Star: “A degree is so much more than a personal investment in higher future income. It benefits society as a whole and we need people to be able to study art and sociology as well as law and engineering.

“There is no such thing as fair tuition fees, but we need to be clear where the funding will come from instead. There is no magic money tree but there is progressive taxation.

“We don’t want universities to lose funding, cut jobs, reduce student places and the quality of education. Any promise to cut tuition fees without increasing public funding for universities is a con.”

Ms Oppenheim said that a publicly funded and democratically controlled education service “for the many” was needed.

The cut is said to either cost the Treasury £3 billion annually or result in a limit on the amount of undergraduate spaces.

It is also said to benefit graduates who go on to high income jobs rather than those earning less.

Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) head of policy and campaigns Matt Waddup said the union was awaiting the review but emphasised that any cuts must be made up through “proper government funding.”

Otherwise it could lead to course closures, staff redundancies and an inevitable negative impact on students, he warned.

Mr Waddup said: “We have long called for university tuition fees to be abolished and replaced with a fairer and more sustainable system that ensures cost is not a barrier to education.

“We have repeatedly called for large, profitable employers, who benefit from the plentiful supply of graduates, to help fund higher education through a business education tax that would produce more money for higher education than the current fee model and cost less to administer.”