Kate Atkinson and Alice Nash, protesting at the introduction of the £1,000 a year tuition fees, have been given until Friday to pay up or be suspended.

If the suspension goes ahead, the students will be barred from university premises, which will mean they will be unable to attend lectures or use college libraries. However they will be able to resume their studies at any point after paying their fees.

The students at Balliol College, Oxford, have the support of junior common room president, Ricken Patel, who has threatened to leave the university if the protestors are forced out.

Kate Atkinson, now studying politics, philosophy and economics, was formerly deputy-head girl at the leading public school, Roedean.

The National Union of Students has mounted a long-running campaign to stop the introduction of tuition fees, including a day of protests and a lobby of the Houses of Parliament last month.

The union has argued that the tuition fees cause hardship among students and that they deter young people from poor backgrounds from entering university.