Best Schools - University tuition fees in England should be cut to £7,500, according to a government-commissioned r

The review warns that "some students are charged too much for their degrees" - and calls for the maximum fee to be reduced from £9,250 per year to £7,500, beginning from 2021-22.

This fee level would be frozen until 2023-24, says the review, after which it would rise with inflation.

Such changes to the level of fees would have to be approved by Parliament before they could be implemented.

"I believe it is time to bring them back," said Prime Minister Theresa May.

But Mrs May, soon to leave Downing Street, acknowledged the fate of the proposals would depend on the next prime minister.

"It will be up to the government to decide, at the upcoming spending review, whether to follow this recommendation," she said.

Maintenance grants to support poorer students, scrapped in 2016, should also be reinstated, it says.

Shakira Martin, president of the National Union of Students, said it would help to address "the debt aversion caused by high fees, high living costs and the lack of maintenance grants".

But students would pay back loans for another decade. Instead of any unpaid loans being cancelled 30 years after graduation, deductions would continue for 40 years.

This could see graduates paying back loans through most of their working lives into their sixties.

Graduates would continue to be charged interest rates based on inflation plus 3% - but interest charges while students were still studying would be reduced.

Repayments would also begin at an earnings threshold of £23,000 rather than the current £25,725.

EU students will not face Brexit penalty next year as tuition fees and student loans will be pegged in England at same level as for home students

EU students going to English universities next year will be eligible for domestic tuition fees and student loans for the duration of their course regardless of Brexit, the Department for Education (DfE) has announced.

Chris Skidmore, the universities minister, told a meeting of ministers in Brussels that EU students would continue to be funded on the same basis as students in England for undergraduate and postgraduate courses starting in the 2020-21 academic year.

“We know that students will be considering their university options for next year already, which is why we are confirming now that eligible EU nationals will continue to benefit from home fee status and can access financial support for the 2020-21 academic year, so they have the certainty they need to make their choice,” Skidmore said.

The announcement was welcomed by university leaders, although it has been widely expected since the decision to delay the UK’s EU departure date until the end of October. The Scottish government said in April that EU students applying for courses there next year would be eligible for home student status.

Applications for undergraduate places at Oxbridge and medical schools close in October, leading to uncertainty for potential EU applicants. International student fees in England can be £15,000 a year higher than annual home student fees.

The decision means EU students will be eligible for student loans on tuition fees of £9,250 a year for undergraduate courses in England. EU nationals who have lived for five years in the UK are also eligible for maintenance loans.