More than two dozen universities are considering lowering their tuition fees for 2012, with eight already submitting plans to do so, it has been revealed.
The move comes in response to the Government's announcement of incentives for institutions that keep their fees low.
Ministers announced in a White Paper this summer that English universities who charged £7,500 or lower would be able to bid for a share of 20,000 funded student places.
According to new figures released by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), 28 universities and colleges, all of whom were planning on charging above this threshold, have expressed an interest in revising their fees.
Of these, eight universities have submitted revised "access agreements" to either reduce their overall fee level, or increase the amount of "fee waivers" they plan to offer to poorer students.
Universities planning to charge over £6,000 had to submit "access agreements" to OFFA setting out how they planned to support students and ensure that those from poorer homes were not priced out.
But these access agreements were submitted before the White Paper was published. It is in light of the proposals in the White Paper, offering more places to universities that keep fees low, that some institutions are considering revising their fee plans.
Universities who intend to change their access agreements have until November 4 to submit their proposals, with OFFA informing institutions whether their application has been successful by November 30.
OFFA has published new guidelines for universities wishing to change their fees. It says institutions must contact all students who have already applied for next year to inform them of the changes to their financial support.
OFFA director Sir Martin Harris said: "In deciding how to approach revisions to 2012-13 access agreements, we have sought to minimise the impact on applicants. Our resulting guidance makes it clear that applicants must continue to receive the same overall level of financial support - even if the balance changes between bursaries and fee waivers - and must receive sufficient warning of any revised package to enable them to change their university choices, if they so wish, without prejudice before the Ucas deadline of 15 January."