The majority of further education colleges teaching higher education expect to charge 2012 tuition fees under the threshold requiring 'access agreements', according to new research.
An Association of Colleges (AoC) survey of 50 colleges showed that for 31 colleges funded directly by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), 12 expect to charge £6000 or over and 19 expect to charge less than £6000.
"Colleges offer affordable excellence as an alternative to university higher education," said Nick Davy, AoC Higher Education Policy Manager.
"There is often a distinction between college 'higher skills' education and a standard university degree.
College courses tend to have a vocational emphasis and be designed in partnership with employers.
"Many colleges teach higher education in areas without a university or where a university does not recruit locally. They are likely to have smaller class sizes and score well with students for time given over to tutorials.
"Colleges operate efficiently; their focus is often on teaching rather than research and they frequently have lower overheads than universities."
The research follows recent speeches by Universities Minister David Willetts and Business Secretary Vince Cable in which they praised the 'distinctive value' and vocational emphasis of college HE.
"Most colleges are yet to formally declare their fee level but our study shows that most will want to charge under £6000," said Mr Davy. "Traditionally college tuition fees have, on average, been lower than those set by universities."
Tuition fees aside - college students are currently graduating with £17,500 less debt than their university counterparts because of lower living costs, according to research by the AoC.
"All this combined means that college higher education is an extremely attractive choice for young people. We would expect it to become even more so as students and parents place greater scrutiny on weighing up their options to see how they can keep debts to a minimum while achieving a high-quality education."
Over 260 colleges teach 160,000 students on higher education courses but less than half of these colleges are directly funded by HEFCE - the rest deliver higher education through franchise agreements with partner universities. The fees set by colleges who work in federation with universities are generally agreed by a process of consultation between the university and the college. Colleges directly funded by HEFCE set their fees independently.
"The range of HE qualifications and training that college students can access is wide - from full Bachelors and Masters Degrees to Higher National Diplomas and professional vocational qualifications such as accountancy, journalism and teaching," said Mr Davy.