The average cost of an undergraduate education at Cambridge is now double the tuition fee, data released by the University shows.

Figures published by the University Reporter show that the composition fees for undergraduate students hit £18,000 a year in 2014/15 – an increase of nearly seven per cent on the year before, and double the £9,000 annual tuition fees which Home and EU students currently pay.

A further breakdown of the statistics show that there is a £7,700 “funding gap” between the amount of money Cambridge receives per year for undergraduates, and the amount it pays to teach them.

The rate for 2014-15 shows that the University received £7,900 from each student, as some undergraduate students were still paying the former, lower fees. This was supplemented by a further £2,400 teaching grant from the government, given per student.

The increase is the largest since the £1,500 rise in 2012/13, and means that fees have increased by over 21 per cent over the last five years.

Notes accompanying the data say that the figure of £18,000 is “not a representation of actual costs for any particular student or course”, and add that the basic cost of teaching an international student is the same as one from the UK or EU.

Despite the steep price the University pays per head, Cambridge has not publicly called for an increase in tuition fees. In 2015, Vice-Chancellor Leszek Borysiewicz told Times Higher Education that he would be “concerned about increases in fees”, saying that they might damage access efforts.

His statements stood in contrast to those of Andrew Hamilton, former Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, who in 2013 called for higher tuition fees based on the price of an undergraduate education at the other place, which then stood at £16,000.

A University of Cambridge spokesperson said: “The cost of undergraduate education to the university (on average, per student) has been steadily increasing for some time.

“The latest rise (2014-15) is not unprecedented and reflects the total cost of teaching to the collegiate university. Cambridge is committed to providing world-class teaching, facilities and support for its students.”