The changes are due in 2006

Newspaper reports say the Prime Minister is going to use a consultation process as a smokescreen to drop the idea.

The government is facing strong opposition to the plans from its own MPs, students and the opposition.

But officials at the Department for Education say the claims are a joke.

A spokesman for the DfES said: "This is laughable. Both the Prime Minister and Charles Clarke have set out this week the reasons for reform to the way we fund universities.

"We have to open up opportunity for everyone with talent and ensure universities have the resources to compete in the world.

"If either newspaper had bothered to check their story, we could have told them that there is no question at all of dropping our university reforms."

Labour doubters

Both the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express report that the government is ready to drop plans to allow universities to charge up to �3,000 a year in tuition fees.

They quote a "Downing Street aide", who says the consultation process on the plans would allow a "way to get out of this mess".

They say ministers expect an alternative scheme where new graduates will pay an extra 1% in tax for several years once they earn more than �20,000 a year.

The government is attempting to win over Labour doubters.

It says it is looking at ways of helping the poorest students, possibly by scrapping any need for them to pay fees.

For all students, fees will only have to be paid after graduation and once they begin to earn more than �15,000 a year.

At the moment, eligible students pay �1,250 a year in tuition fees up-front. The fees are means-tested, with the poorest students not paying anything.

The chief executives of Britain's universities - represented by Universities UK - have given their support to the plans, saying it is unrealistic to expect vital further funding for higher education to come from the tax-payer.

But students and Labour opponents say the scheme will put poorer people off going to university.

They also say it will lead to a two-tier system, with only the rich being able to afford to go to the most prestigious universities since those institutions will be able to charge the full amount.