By Sean Coughlan BBC News Online education staff

Students are flocking to the University of Manchester, with a 22% rise in applications

And student union leaders say that this is because students are being priced out of the capital by high living costs and fears about getting into debt.

Manchester University, with over 45,000 applications for places, has recorded a 22% increase compared with last year.

This is far greater than the 1.8% national average increase in applications for all types of courses in higher education.

In London, universities have registered falls in applications of up to 14%.

And there are suggestions that this is being driven by the search for lower accommodation and living costs.

National Union of Students president, Mandy Telford, says that it shows that the threat of debt is already having an effect on how students choose universities.

And she said that this process will be further exacerbated by the government's proposed increase in student fees.

Nottingham and Leeds remain the most popular universities, in terms of the number of students seeking places.

Nottingham received over 48,000 applications, up almost 4% on last year, while Leeds received over 47,000 applications, up by over 5%.

And there were also increases in applications for the universities of Newcastle and York.

But in a number of London universities, application numbers have stalled or are falling back.

London falling

The London School of Economics, University College London, Imperial College, Goldsmiths College and Westminster University have all seen decreases in applications.

Greenwich University saw applications down by 12%, South Bank University by 13% and University of North London by 14%.

But there were exceptions to this trend, with Queen Mary, University of London, attracting an increase of 17% and King's College saw a 5% increase.

A spokeswoman for Queen Mary said that the increase followed outreach work with local schools - and an increasing trend for young people to stay in their family home when studying at university.

Manchester's increase has been helped by a 42% rise in applications from overseas students, particularly in health-related courses such as medicine, dentistry, nursing and pharmacy.

And the university also says it reflects efforts to work with schools and colleges to encourage applications.

The figures are from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, based on applications to study higher education courses in the UK received by 15 January.