Students at Oxford are complaining about sharp rises in living costs, which they say could leave the university a "playground for the rich" .

According to the Oxford University Student Union several colleges are planning "inflation-busting" increases for accommodation, which will place further financial pressures on students.

This includes Trinity College, where students could face an increase of about �1,000 per year - if a proposal goes ahead to withdraw a subsidy for food and accommodation costs over the next few years.

Students at the college say that such a sudden rise - up from about �1,800 to �2,800 - will make Trinity inaccessible to the less well off.

"If they're smart, under-privileged students will be put off applying to Trinity. If they don't know about the charges, they'll be in hardship when they get here, and grants won't make up the shortfall," says a letter from the Junior Common Room.

"These plans would change Trinity entirely for future generations. The stigma that we're trying to shake off, that Oxford is the playground of the rich, could increasingly become the reality," says the letter.

"This increase will mean that Trinity will become the most expensive college in Oxford," said Oxford University Student Union vice-president, Andrew Copson.

Stock market losses

The union also said that "students shouldn't be paying for slumps in the stock market" - a reference to reports that the savings made by Trinity College are in part prompted by losses in investments.

But the suggestion that it was no longer appropriate for Oxford students, regardless of family income, to receive these subsidies for living costs was rejected by the union.

"People like Michael Beloff [Trinity College's president] claim that the colleges have to stop subsidising their students but it is unclear if this is really taking place," said union president, Will Straw.

"In our experience the reverse actually takes place with students subsidising the expensive costs of maintaining the chapels and halls. In any case, Oxford colleges were often founded precisely to provide subsidised accommodation and food for poorer students."

The Oxford students say that accommodation costs in undergraduate colleges are often higher than the private sector.