Owain James: "Missed opportunity"

But it says the education select committee has missed "the most important issue" - student support.

Under its own terms of reference the committee said it was considering: "The effect of changing patterns of student support and student income on the quality of learning".

Examples given were loans, fees, and the continuing increase in the time students spend in part-time jobs during courses.

The NUS president, Owain James, said: "Access to education is partly determined by the cost.

'Financial barriers'

"If the government really wants to solve the problem of widening access then they need to give students from low income backgrounds more money not more debt."

Poor and working class would-be students will stay away in their thousands

Union leader Paul Mackney

The union representing many lecturers in the newer universities and colleges of higher education, Natfhe, said that recruiting the poorest students was only one side of the access coin.

"The real test is sorting out the financial barriers and providing the academic support students need to stay on and achieve," it said.

The union welcomed the committee's proposal to increase the funding premium from 5% to up to 50% for those universities which recruit from the most deprived neighbourhoods.

But it said fear of debt and hardship was a main barrier to access and the union regretted the committee's "failure" to come up with proposals on student maintenance grants and tuition fees.

'Spectre of debt'

Its general secretary, Paul Mackney, said: "Poor and working class would-be students will stay away in their thousands to avoid the spectre of debt for themselves and their families.

"We are no longer catering for an elite group of sixth formers. The government will have to invest in bringing working class students into higher education by restoring grants and scrapping the fees that are the real deterrents to access."

The bigger Association of University Teachers welcomed the report.

Its general secretary, David Triesman, said: "Access and quality cannot be provided on the cheap and priority must be given to the creation of a comprehensive and joined-up approach to widening participation.

"Provide staff with the time and resources to reach out to new and non-traditional students and we will meet that challenge.

"The government now needs to work alongside universities and academic staff to find the additional resources to fund these recommendations."

A-level changes

The general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, John Dunford, said the report would delight head teachers.

As a member of the commission which had proposed that A-levels be taken earlier, so students could apply to university knowing what their grades were, he welcomed the MPs' endorsement of that.

"Both students and teachers at school and university will greatly benefit from a post-qualifications applications process," he said.

UK Universities - the umbrella group for the sector - said the report bolstered its commitment to increasing participation by people from low-income families.

"The proportion of non-traditional students in universities has rocketed over the last few years, and I celebrate that achievement," said its chief executive, Diana Warwick.

She said big increases in the premium offered to universities to support the additional costs of poorer students would be very welcome.

She also backed the idea of A-levels being taken earlier and said talks were going on to explore how best to achieve that.

'Doing it already' - or not

The Education Minister, Tessa Blackstone, said the government had already started implementing many of the select committee's proposals through its �150m "excellence challenge" scheme.

"This money is aimed at raising attainment by the age of 18 and encouraging universities and colleges to reach out to more able young people from families with no history of going to university," she said.

"It will also provide clearer information to young people, their teachers and parents about getting into higher education - raising expectations and dispelling misconceptions that young people may have about universities."

She gave no sign that the government was prepared to put in up to another �250m, as the select committee recommended, into widening access.

"The Government wants to ensure that the existing premium is effective at widening participation," she said.

The shadow education secretary, Theresa May, said the proportion of disadvantaged students going to university had tailed off under the Labour government.