Application figures have been under close scrutiny to see the impact of fees rising to up to £9,000
University applications from UK students for the first year of higher tuition fees are down by 8.7%, according to figures from the admissions service.
With fees rising to up to £9,000 per year, the impact has been biggest for England's universities - down by 9.9%.
In Scotland, where Scottish students do not pay fees, there was a fall of 1.5%.
Universities UK said the "dip is far less dramatic than many were initially predicting".
Universities Minister David Willetts argued there was evidence that school-leaver applications from disadvantaged areas had not been hit by the fees increase - saying that there was only a decline of 0.2%
"It is encouraging that applications from people from some of the most disadvantaged backgrounds remain strong," said Mr Willetts.
'Most expensive'
But Sally Hunt, general secretary of the UCU lecturers' union, said the "figures are very worrying and once again highlight the government's folly in raising tuition fees to as much as £9,000 a year.
"Applications in England are down over 50% more than in any other part of the UK as a result of the government making it the most expensive country in the world in which to gain a public degree."
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A breakdown of the UK figures show a 4% fall in applications in Northern Ireland and 1.9% in Wales.
The figures published by the Ucas admissions service show that by the 15 January deadline there were 462,507 applications for courses beginning in September.
This represented a 8.7% drop in applications from students in the UK - but an increase in overseas applications meant that the overall figure was 7.4% lower than at the same point last year.
Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group of leading universities, says that the underlying longer-term trend remains an increase in demand for university places - with these latest figures considerably higher than three years ago.
"Despite all the hype, fee reforms are unlikely to cause a long-term decline in applications. In the past a fall in applications in the first year of higher fees has been followed by increases in subsequent years."
Applications from students from other European Union countries, who would also be affected by the fee hike, decreased sharply - by 11.2%.
But overall figures were buoyed by a continuing increase in applications from outside the EU, up by 13.7%, particularly from countries in the Far East.
The gap between men and women going to university looks set to widen. Women are already in a majority - and the application figures show a sharper fall among men than women.
There is also a breakdown by age group - and this shows that among 18 year olds, across the UK, a decline of 3.6%, compared with last year, with greater drops in applications among older students.
There had been much debate about whether students would be influenced by fee levels - but the private BPP University College, which charges £5,000 per year for a three-year course, is reporting that applications have more than doubled.
Overseas degrees
The 1994 Group of research intensive universities said that figures showed that some UK students "have obviously been wary of applying this year".
The group's chairman, Professor Michael Farthing, said "the uncertainty caused by the government's haphazard approach to reform has not helped".
Nick Davy, higher education policy manager at the Association of Colleges, said: "We are concerned by the drop in student applications, particularly at a time of record levels of unemployment among young people."
There have also been signs of an increase in UK students applying overseas.
Maastricht University in the Netherlands, where fees are £1,500 per year, is reporting a surge in applications.
The university is forecasting that they will receive 600 applications from UK students during the current admissions cycle.
Ucas chief executive, Mary Curnock Cook, highlighted that this year's application figures were against a background of a demographic dip in school leaver numbers.
When this is taken into account, she says it shows a fall of 1% in the application rate in England, "with little change across the rest of the UK".
The Ucas chief also cast doubt on drawing a link between a fall in applications and fees deterring poorer students - saying that "decreases in demand are slightly larger in more advantaged groups than in the disadvantaged groups".
"Widely expressed concerns about recent changes in higher education funding arrangements having a disproportionate effect on more disadvantaged groups are not borne out by these data.
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