Details will be made public today of a £300m package of non-repayable cash which will be offered to universities to help them attract the best students - as a pre-cursor to top-up fees.

The government's university regulator has authorised universities to charge the maximum top-up fees, up to £3,000 a year, from next year.

The money being offered will help support an estimated 400,000 students from poorer backgrounds through their degree courses.

These include additional grants of up to £3,000 a year from a handful of elite universities and benefits in kind such as travel and sports passes, book vouchers and even free bicycles and computers.