Several vice-chancellors have called for a hike in domestic tuition fees, arguing that universities need more money from students to survive.

Sir David Bell, vice-chancellor of the University of Sunderland and a former senior civil servant in the Department for Education (DfE) called on the government to increase tuition fees in light of heightening inflation.

He told The Times: “If you want to keep running universities even at the level we have now, you have to increase the tuition fee at some point.

“You cannot expect to run universities on a fee level of £9,250 a year, which by 2025 will be worth around £6,000 in real terms because of inflation.”

Bell also claimed that the real-terms cut in domestic tuition fees means it is a “rational choice” for universities to give more places to international students (and thereby fewer to domestic ones) given the higher fees they pay.

That phenomenon caused controversy this admissions cycle, with a fifth of places at Russell Group universities awarded to overseas pupils, leading Robert Halfon MP, Tory chair of the education select committee, to accuse universities of using foreign students as a “cash cow”.

Bell’s call to consider higher undergraduate fees has been supported by other university bosses.

Sheffield Hallam vice-chancellor, Professor Sir Chris Husbands, claimed that there is “an urgent need to look at UK student funding”.

Stephen Marston, vice-chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire, asked for consultation with government ministers to reach a long-term solution to fund universities.

Varsity contacted Cambridge to ask whether the University endorsed these calls, but they were unable to offer a comment.

Prior to 1998, university students were not required to pay tuition fees. In 2012, amid much controversy, the coalition government raised fees to £9,000 per year, from £3,225. A further £250 was added to the annual price tag in 2017.

These fees apply to England and Wales. Scottish students studying at Scottish universities do not have to pay for their tuition, and Northern Irish students studying in Northern Ireland pay £4,630 per year.

In 2021, a petition to reduce student fees to £3,000 a year received over 580,000 signatures, but was rejected by the government.