STUDENTS at the University of Gloucestershire are supporting a campaign to scrap tuition and top-up fees.

Thousands of students across the country spent yesterday protesting against the charges, which leave most with debts averaging between £20,000 and £25,000 by the time they graduate.

They were organised by the National Union of Students, under the banner Students In The Red, ahead of Government plans to review the fee-paying system, in which all students have to pay £3,145 per year for university education.

The payments leave many young people with a mountain of debt when added to a student overdraft, and loans most take out to live off.

James Durant, union president at the University of Gloucestershire, said: "We've had a lot of students coming to us to talk about fees.

"They're a very big deal. We don't even get to see the students who are put off university education by the massive debt the Government seems to think it's OK to load on them, but the students we do see are troubled by financial worries. They have to take extra jobs to try to keep their debts down to manageable levels, or in some cases just to have enough to eat."

The Government is expected to review tuition fees next year when it's likely to consider four options – scrapping fees altogether, keeping them at the same level, raising them to £7,000 or removing the cap on fees, allowing individual universities to charge what they want.

James said: "Unfortunately, the last two are far more likely than the first. It means universities like Oxford and Cambridge could charge as much as £25,000 per year. It goes against every ethical consideration of education that we've ever had in this country."

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills says there is no evidence that students are put off going to university because of a lack of finance.

A spokesman said: "Undergraduates starting degree courses don't have to pay tuition fees before beginning their studies, and only start repayments once they have left university and are earning over £15,000 per year."

But students at the University of Gloucestershire disagreed.

Lizzie Fairless, a 20 year-old business management and psychology student, said: "If the fees had been any higher than they are now, I'd have had to seriously consider whether I was able to study at all.

"I'm already doing two jobs to buy food and stay alive. I'm going to leave the university with thousands of pounds of debt. It's a system that makes no sense at all."

Vicky Lomax, 20, who lives in Gloucester, is studying Business Management and Geography. She said: "Fees are a massive consideration. I decided to study here because it meant I could live with my parents.

"I'll still have thousands to repay when I finish. At a time when the global economy is in turmoil the Government seems to think massive debt won't put people off studying."