STUDENTS are set to face rocketing bills for their degrees after all five of the region’s universities were given approval for higher fees.

Both Newcastle and Durham universities have been given the green light to charge the maximum amount, whilst Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside will be able to charge up to £8,500.

Universities had to submit plans for widening participation in higher education to the Office for Fair Access (Offa), which is today approving proposals for 139 institutions nationally.

Offa says universities and colleges charging more than the basic level of £6,000 for their courses plan to boost spending on “access measures” to £602m a year by 2015.

Access measures cover a wide range of activities to raise aspirations and attainment, such as summer schools, as well as financial support packages including fee waivers, bursaries and scholarships.

Newcastle University is planning to invest an extra £25m on widening participation and financial support of at least £2,000 per year for students over the next five years.

Almost a quarter of Newcastle University’s students are from the North East, more than 90% of them from state schools.

Many of them have participated in the Partners programme, which has been in operation for 11 years and involves all FE colleges and state schools with a sixth form in the North East.

The university says part of its access agreement is to develop this programme even further to work with up to 500 schools by 2015.

Lesley Braiden, director of marketing and communications at the university, said: “Many young people lack the confidence to apply to the top universities and our schemes help them to unlock and realise their potential. In the future, we will be working even more intensively in the North East and expanding our activities to schools and colleges in other regions across the country.”

Northumbria University says its access agreement sets out “ambitious targets” to ensure it is able to recruit and retain students from underrepresented groups.