Students in England will pay more for their university courses with tuition fees going up to £9,535 next year - the first increase in eight years
Universities have been calling for fees - their main source of income - to rise and ease pressure on their budgets
Westminster sets fees for England - in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland they are fixed by the devolved governments
Some students will also be able to borrow more to pay their living costs from next autumn
But Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has told universities to do more to help disadvantaged students
Will you be affected by the rise in tuition fees? Get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk, external
Phillipson begins by expressing her "deep regret" that some of the details of the announcement have been reported in the media prior to her speech in the Commons.
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle says he wants a "full inquiry" into how this happened, and Phillipson says she can give that undertaking.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is on her feet in the House of Commons where she is going to give more details about the rise in tuition fees.
Stay tuned as we bring you her announcement, plus reaction and analysis.
You can stream her statement - and MPs' responses - by clicking Watch live .
We're expecting to hear about maintenance loans today as well as tuition fees.
Maintenance loans make up part of a student loan and are intended to cover accommodation, food, books and any necessary equipment for the course.
They are means-tested – applicants need to provide details about their family household income, which will then determine what they can borrow.
The amount depends on where the student is living, if they are living with their parents, if they are an international student studying in the UK, and if they are over the age of 60.
The loan is paid directly into the student’s bank account at the start of each term.
The student will need to pay back the maintenance loan when their income is over the threshold amount in their repayment plan.
Hazel Shearing
Education correspondent
Earlier we said a fall in international student numbers has led to mounting concerns for universities.
But why?
As it stands, this year the most a student in the UK will pay for a year of undergraduate tuition is £9,250 (the exact amount depends on where they live in the UK).
International students, meanwhile, can pay £38,000 per year, external for undergraduate courses and £30,000 per year for postgraduate courses.
With fees for UK students frozen year after year, universities have become increasingly reliant on international students' fees to make up the shortfall. So much so that last year the chief executive of Universities UK told MPs that instead of being the "cherry on the cake" they were "becoming the flour".
The situation has become more pressing since. Figures released last month suggested there had been a 16% drop in the number of applications for study visas this summer compared to last summer, and the Office for Students said 40% of universities have predicted a deficit in this academic year.
Not all universities will be affected by a fall in international students equally, though - some will be more reliant on their fees than others.
More now from our chats with Manchester Metropolitan University students.
Laaibah, who's a first year student studying English and creative writing, doesn't think a rise in tuition fees would "make that much of a difference".
"Some people get degrees and they still find it hard to find work to pay off those loans," she says. "I doubt I’m really gonna be able to pay off what I’ve got already if I’m honest."
Laaibah also adds that she'd like to see maintenance loans increase as she knows people are "finding it really tough" with their current allowance.
We're getting some initial thoughts from MPs on the expected rise in university tuition fees for students in England.
Zarah Sultana, the independent MP for Coventry South, calls the government's decision "wrong" in a post on X, arguing that "students shouldn't have to pay tuition this year, or any year."
"It’s time to abolish tuition fees and cancel student debt because education is a public good, not a commodity," she says.
Ellie Chowns, Green MP for Noth Herefordshire, says tuition fees have "forced universities to prioritise profit over education and put many at risk of bankruptcy", adding that students who take student loans "face extortionate interest rates."
"They have been a disaster and should be scrapped, not increased," she goes on to say.
Hannah Miller
Political correspondent
The new Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, has lamented "pointless" university degrees that she claims are a barrier to jobs, suggesting "graduate professions" have developed as a result of the expansion of higher education.
Her shadow education secretary, Laura Trott, will have the responsibility of responding to the government on her first day in the job.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats are all too aware of how politically toxic tuition fees can be - still haunted by the damage done to their brand by putting them up during the coalition years, having promised not to.
Their 2024 manifesto called for a review of the way the existing system impacts "access, participation and quality".
The SNP and the Greens believe university education should be free – implying taxpayers cover the cost. Reform have suggested the interest on loans should be scrapped.
There are a wide range of views among MPs about how best to resolve the university funding conundrum. Will today give a slightly clearer indication of where the Labour government is heading?
Zay says tuition fees are already "quite a big factor" for people deciding not to go to university
The BBC has been speaking to students at Manchester Metropolitan University about what impact a potential rise in tuition fees could have.
Zay and Shay, both first year product design students, agree that higher fees could stop people from going to university at all.
"I think it’s already quite a big factor playing on a lot of peoples’ minds not to go to uni, so increasing it is quite a big factor in just like, changing everyone’s decision," Zay says.
And Shay adds: "It’s not ideal, stopping people from coming [to] uni potentially. It’s not great is it, it’s already expensive as it is."
He also says he worries more about his maintenance money and the cost of living as he's "already prepared to pay the tuition fee, because that's the whole reason I've come".
Shay says he worries more about his maintenance loan money than he does his tuition fee
Image source, PA MediaWhen he ran for the Labour leadership in 2020, Sir Keir Starmer pledged to support getting rid of university tuition fees in England.
But in May 2023, he said Labour was "likely to move on" from the pledge, saying he still wanted to see a "fairer solution".
He argued the country's "financial situation" had changed – something he has frequently blamed on the previous Conservative government.
During this year's election campaign, Starmer argued on a special BBC Question Time programme that he wanted to prioritise the NHS instead.
“I am not going to do the tuition fees abolition, because I want to put that money to get our NHS back on its feet," he said.
We're keen to know what a potential increase in tuition fees would mean for you. Let us know using any of the following:
Hazel Shearing
Education correspondent
When a government changes tuition fees, it makes a statement on how much of the cost of going to university should fall on graduates.
Students care because those changes determine how much debt they'll have racked up at the end of their degrees.
Graduates care because, if they earn over a certain amount, they see the cash deducted from their pay cheques every month.
Universities care because they want to make sure tuition fees actually do cover the cost of, well, tuition.
And everyone else cares because student debt that isn't paid off after a set number of years is written off.
Tuition fees as we know them are also a relatively new phenomenon in England.
It's been less than 30 years since fees of £1,000 were introduced in 1998. They were tripled to £3,000 in 2006, then again to £9,000 in 2012, prompting widespread protests.
They're a hot topic now because they've only increased once since then, reaching £9,250 in 2017 - and some will argue that a rise is long overdue.
Branwen Jeffreys
Education Editor
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has been making it clear since just after the election that universities need to find savings themselves - there is no unconditional bailout.
Part of the problem is that universities had a brief boomtime when fees went up in 2012 and took out loans at the time - many of which they are still paying off.
While the rest of the public sector still faced austerity after the financial crash in 2008, and spending plans tightened, cranes appeared across campuses and universities raced to build facilities to attract international and home students.
"In a large number of cases, universities borrowed money, believing that the undergraduate tuition fee would keep pace with inflation," Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, which represents more than 140 institutions, told the BBC in October.
She added that universities believed they could make a "confident calculation that their income would be secure in the long term."
The forecast today is somewhat different. There have been warnings from the regulator in England, the Office for Students, that 40% of universities have predicted a deficit in this academic year.
Hazel Shearing
Education correspondent
Warnings have been mounting throughout the year about the state of university finances - and there have been several crunch points along the way.
New rules introduced by the last Conservative government at the start of the year made it harder for international students to bring family members with them.
Then came a currency crisis in Nigeria.
Both set alarm bells going for universities. They have become increasingly reliant on the higher fees paid by international students, many of whom are Nigerian, as fees for students from the UK have not kept up with inflation.
It's sparked serious concern that a university could go bust, and vice-chancellors called on the Labour government a few weeks ago to stabilise their finances by increasing funding and raising tuition fees.
Universities then said last week that they had been squeezed even further by an increase in national insurance contributions.
The government will be hoping that increasing tuition fees could help offset that.
Image source, PA MediaAs we've been reporting, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson will make a statement to MPs this afternoon where she is expected to say that university tuition fees in England are going up for the first time since 2017.
We don't know exactly when she'll speak but we’re currently expecting her statement at around 16:15 GMT.
But that's a rough estimate – we'll keep an eye on the Commons chamber and bring you more when we get it.
Prior to that, Phillipson is also expected in the House from 14:30 GMT, because she will be taking questions from MPs on her department's work. So the subject could well come up then too.
Education questions lasts for about an hour. It will be followed by an unrelated urgent question on the Budget's impact on farmers which could take about 45 minutes.
Phillipson is then due back in the chamber for her statement on tuition fees.
Tuition fees for home students have been capped at £9,250 in England since 2017.
But Universities UK, which represents more than 140 institutions, said in September this year that an increase in tuition fees and direct government funding was needed in England.
It worked up a proposal for a fee rise linked to inflation and more government investment to ensure the sector “does not slide into decline”.
A record number of UK students began courses in September, but the number of international students has dropped.
And about 40% of universities are expecting to return a budget deficit this year, according to the higher-education regulator, the Office for Students.
The Universities UK proposals revealed in September said: “Universities lose money teaching UK students - and that deficit has grown year on year."
“We have to halt that," it said, adding: "If investment in teaching students had kept up with inflation, funding per student would be in the region of £12,000-£13,000.”
The maximum annual cost for UK students varies depending on where you live and study:
In England, tuition fees for home students have been capped at £9,250 since 2017.
However, a group of more than 140 UK universities say that if fees had risen in line with inflation they would be "in the region of £12,000-£13,000" and the sector has argued that more funding is needed.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is expected to make a statement to MPs this afternoon outlining expected tuition fee increases in England.
A freeze on fees is due to expire in 2025, at which point they would rise with a measure of inflation called RPIX which does not include housing costs.
A longer term view of fees is expected to form part of the three-year spending review