Cambridge may break ranks over top-up fees

Cambridge University will consider opposing top-up fees today, breaking with other elite institutions and intensifying the debate over charging students.

The university's ruling council will be urged to back a statement calling on the Government to explore other ways of raising cash for universities.

The statement warns that top-up fees – an option being considered by the Government for a higher education policy blueprint to be published in January – will be potentially damaging to Cambridge's attempts to woo more students from underprivileged backgrounds.

Meanwhile, Dr Michael Goldstein, the vice-chancellor of Coventry University, will warn in a speech today of "the awful threat of a fees escalation led by well-off universities predominantly serving the well-off".

Students' representatives will table the Cambridge statement – though the university's vice-chancellor, Sir Alec Broers, is understood to have told students last week that it was "quite possible" it would pass. Students plan a demonstration to coincide with today's council meeting.

He is known to be sceptical about top-up fees, saying it was "not his preferred option" for funding universities.

The council of his old college, Churchill, has already come out against top-up fees saying it is "fundamentally opposed" to the concept.

Until now, members of the Russell Group, which represents the country's top 18 universities, have generally voiced support for top-up fees. One, Imperial College, has already backed a paper warning that fees of up to £15,000 a year could be charged – although the figures most often floated have been between £3,500 and £6,000.

However, Cambridge is proud of its reputation for trying to encourage more state school pupils to seek places. It already sends out scouts – students from inner-city state schools – to their neighbourhoods to encourage more to apply.