One in 10 students studying for A-levels has been put off university because of the increase in tuition fees next year, a new survey suggests.
In addition, half of those polled would consider going to a local university to save money, while just under half said they would consider studying abroad to avoid the sharp increase in fees.
The BBC Inside Out/ComRes survey shows almost two-thirds would consider apprenticeships as an alternative to a degree.
The publication of the survey comes after a weekend report suggested some universities were experiencing a steep drop in demand for courses beginning next September, with one, City University London, saying applications were down 41.4%. Goldsmiths has reported a 35% drop while Brunel has 24% fewer candidates, according to figures gathered by the Sunday Times. The survey of universities appears to match the ComRes survey, showing a broad decline of about 10%.
However, some universities, including the London School of Economics, Queen Mary, and Bath, are seeing rises in applications, according to the report.
The Universities and Colleges Admission Service (Ucas) is due to release figures on Monday for the number of applications received by 15 October, the deadline for Oxford, Cambridge and courses in medicine, dentistry, and veterinary medicine. A Ucas spokesman indicated demand for Oxbridge and medical courses had held up.
Candidates for other universities have until 15 January to apply, but there has been a trend for early submissions.
Demographic factors could also be behind any dip in applications. The number of 18-year-olds in the UK is projected to decline for the rest of this decade.
A number of universities are now reconsidering the amount they intend to charge after the government gave them incentives to set an average fee below £7,500.
In July, a government watchdog announced that the estimated average fee across all English universities was £8,393. At the time, 47 planned to charge the maximum of £9,000 as their standard fee.
The ComRes survey, which interviewed 1,009 A-level students in England this month, found the vast majority were worried about the burden of debt and thought it would be hard to get a job after university, but most still planned to go to university.
Wes Streeting, chief executive of the Helena Kennedy Foundation, an educational charity, said: "My main concern is about widening participation. If it is the case that higher tuition fees are having a detrimental impact on the number of applications, then schools, colleges and government need to redouble their efforts to get the facts out.
"When people look at the details, some of the fears that families still have about paying fees upfront may be allayed."
Under reforms introduced by the government last year, students will be able to take out state-backed loans to pay for their fees, as they do now. In future, graduates will pay back 9% of their income above £21,000. Graduates will pay interest on their loans, of a maximum of inflation plus 3%. Any outstanding repayments will be written off after 30 years, so graduates with low lifetime earnings will be protected.
A poll earlier this month showed the number of teenagers enrolled at further education colleges in England was declining for the first time in 12 years, with some institutions reporting a slump in numbers of up to 15%.
The Association of Colleges asked half the colleges in the country – 182 institutions – how enrolments for this autumn compared year-on-year. Overall, the number of students had dropped by 0.1%, the equivalent of almost 600 students. But in a quarter of the colleges, the number of students had fallen by between 5% and 15%.
Shabana Mahmood, Labour's shadow higher education minister, said: "This report shows that young people are being put off applying for university by the trebling of tuition fees. This out-of-touch Tory-led government has completely mishandled universities policy."
