Kingston University Students’ Union (KUSU) has hit back at plans that could see privileged teenagers buying places at universities of their choice.

David Willetts, Universities Minister, announced the Government was looking to allow extra places to those willing to pay their own tuition fees.

Students taking advantage of the offer would not be eligible for publically-funded loans to cover costs, so the places would be limited to the teenagers with the wealthiest parents, it has been claimed.

Chris Dingle, KUSU president elect, said: "This is just another example of a Government policy that hasn’t been thought through and is in utter chaos.

"The contempt shown by the Government here for social mobility is clear and this Government wants nothing more than education for the privileged few, based not upon academic ability but the ability to pay.

"The only people such a move will benefit will be the rich elite who can but their way into the top universities.

"This goes completely against the idea of academic merit and is abhorrent to the higher education sector in the UK, which prides itself on academic independence. Is there is any length this Government will not sink to?

"The Government has shown even further contempt for universities like Kingston by suggesting a policy that will only benefit the Russell Group whose record on widening participation is farcical. Universities like Kingston do far more, and yet the Government gives them far less."