The University of Oxford is looking to push for a sharp increase in tuition fees, and may want to charge students up to £11,000 a year; a controversial move.

Dr John Hood, the University’s Vice-Chancellor, has disclosed that Oxford feels it will be necessary to charge significantly more than the current £3,145 cap on fees to cover the full cost of the students education.

He claims: "The cost of provision of the sort of education that we provide at the University of Oxford – that is a tutorial and small group teaching basis – is substantially in advance of the current fee plus [Government] grant per student that we receive. Some calculations would indicate that that additional cost is as much as £8,000 a year."

A move such as this is likely to anger many students and families with a lower income, and quite rightly so. If fees rose to even as much as £7,000, the NUS warns that students will be amassing debts as high as £32,000 by the time they graduate. For Oxford to increase their fees to such an extent will put off many from poorer backgrounds from even thinking about applying, because they will not be able to meet these high demands.

Oxford is not a cheap place for a student to live in either. For the few University of Oxford students who have to live off campus, rent is particularly high, and one Oxford student has complained that there is not even a cheap supermarket.

Oxford is the first university to admit that it will be pushing for an increase in tuition fees when a official review begins this summer, although other universities are also expected to push for the cap to be raised or scrapped altogether. This admission was made when Ministers from a select committee travelled to Oxford to meet with John Hood about the issue.

The Vice-Chancellor did add that the University would look into "hardship funds" and bursaries to help the poorer students, but these may not change student opinion. Surrounded by the wealth that is evident at Oxford, many are likely to feel some embarrassment at needing a hardship fund. Bursaries may also not solve the problem - they are administered through Colleges, which are separate from the University, and how much they are able to give depends on how much money the College has available, which will widely vary.

Henrietta Curtis, a first year Oxford undergraduate, said of the admission: "It’s ridiculous, and certainly not going to do anything for increasing access to the University. I definitely would not be able to be here if tuition fees were that high."

Oxford has for a long time been attempting to move away from its elitist and upper class image by implementing various schemes and summer schools for A Level students from lower income backgrounds, but if they do get their way then they will be taking a big step backwards. Such high tuition fees could result in students from wealthy backgrounds being once again the only students able to attend Oxford. If it wants to remain the top University in the country Oxford need to have the best students, and not the richest, by accepting the top students from around the whole country and not just from the private schools who can afford it.