A move to reduce university tuition fees to £3,000 a year could be debated by Parliament after more than 130,00 people signed a petition.
The petition claims young people are being deterred from doing a degree due to high tuition fees, which are set to rise again in September to £9,250 a year.
Between 2006 and 2012, students paid up to £3,000 a year in tuition fees, before the figure was controversially tripled to £9,000, leading to huge student protests.
Thousands of young people are now calling on the government to reduce tuition fees to pre-2012 levels.
The petition reads: “University fees are rising more and more.
“£9000 for university fees is too high and the stress of being in debt is what puts individuals off applying for degrees.
“Now that grants have been removed it makes it difficult for families who need financial support but can’t get that anymore.”
First year student Zahra Walji, who started the petition, said the current system was preventing academics from reaching their “true potential”.
Despite the fact more than 132,000 people have signed the petition, many students and graduates have shared their doubts over its success:
But Walji is insistent about the importance of students making a stand against tuition fee rises.
“We all have a voice,” she said. “I’m proud to be a British citizen and I feel it is my right to have a say in things that affect our country.
“If we don’t stand up, we have given up before we’ve even started.”
Parliament must at least consider debating petitions that receive 100,000 signatures or more.
However, they may decline if the issue has already been discussed in the past or set to be debated in the near future.