English universities are going down “an incredibly irresponsible path” on funding, Dundee University Students’ Association’s leader has claimed.
Almost 90 English universities have announced they intend to charge their students the maximum £9000 a year in tuition fees for some or all of their courses.
DUSA acting president Chris Browne said Scottish institutions should look for other ways to boost their finances.
The UK Government has become embroiled in a row over whether or not English universities should be allowed to create extra places that would not receive public funding.
Ministers have suggested this could allow businesses and charities to sponsor students, but critics argue that such a system could enable rich families to buy places for their sons and daughters.
Universities minister David Willetts said, “We will only consider allowing off-quota places where it contributes to the coalition commitment to improve social mobility and increase fair access.”
The National Union of Students (NUS) claimed the result would be a two-tier system that would allow the “richest, less able applicants a second bite at the university cherry.”
Mr Browne, in an interview for student magazine The Magdalen, accepted that a funding gap would open up between English and Scottish institutions once tuition fees came in.
DUSA has criticised university principal Professor Pete Downes for backing a graduate contribution in Scotland.
He argued it would be the only way to maintain quality of education during spending cuts.
Mr Browne said the NUS had produced options to fill the gap, including advanced entry in a number of degrees and looking at the efficiencies and savings identified by a working group comprised of Universities Scotland and the government.
He said, “I believe England have gone down an incredibly irresponsible path and while their funding scheme will present problems for Scotland, we cannot make the same mistakes and we cannot allow them to limit access for students in Scotland.”
Mr Browne said it was up to politicians to honour their pledges to support students.
Universities Scotland has predicted that the funding gap will be at least £202m a year by 2014/15, although it has said the actual figure could easily be much higher.