More than 100 elected student union representatives from across the country have written to Damian Hinds demanding he abandon any plan to charge EU students more after Brexit.
In the letter, the education secretary was warned it would be a “huge backwards step” that would make a “mockery” of the government’s Global Britain strategy.
Students from EU member states studying at English universities have so-called home status and currently pay the same as those from the UK.
But the government has refused to rule out a price hike, first reported by BuzzFeed, for courses starting in 2021-22.
Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, Hinds would only say home status was guaranteed for EU students starting courses this coming September.
Meike Imberg, president of Greenwich University Students’ Union and a German national, said the move would fuel calls for a second referendum.
“Student representatives from across the UK are rightly concerned about the government’s plans to massively increase fees and remove financial support for EU students such as myself,” he said.
“This is not Project Fear about no-deal, it’s a government plan no matter the Brexit outcome.”
Angela Rayner, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said it would be wrong to “build walls between our world-class universities and our nearest neighbours”.
And Guy Verhofsdat, the European Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator warned “young people must not be the victims” of the referendum result.
The letter to Hinds was coordinated by the For our Future’s Sake, a youth and student-led movement which is part of the People’s Vote campaign.
Signed by 103 student officials including union presidents and other officers, it said:
“We read with serious concern reports of the government’s plans to remove ‘home status’ from over 150,000 EU nationals who study at our universities, colleges and apprenticeship providers.
“This would be tantamount to drastically increasing the debt that students leave education with, removing vital financial support and the only outcome will be to make it much harder for (and therefore significantly decrease the number of) European Union students who so benefit our institutions and society.
“High fees and lack of financial support will be a huge barrier to many EU students, who may simply choose not to apply to study here in the UK, which already has some of the highest fees in Europe.
“At a time of massive uncertainty for European Union nationals across the UK, it is a huge backwards step for our world class education sector, and UK society as a whole, to simply shut out talented students.
“This regressive move – without consultation – makes a mockery of the government’s stated aim of working towards ‘Global Britain’.
“Hurting both our education sector and future students is not what people voted for in 2016, and it’s one of the many reasons why so many students and young people back a confirmatory referendum on any agreed Brexit Deal.
“That is why we ask you to announce a stop to any government plans which increase debt on EU students, which cuts away vital financial support and ultimately harms our education sector.”