Most of England’s top universities are likely to begin charging tuition rates at the upper limit allowed under controversial legislation passed late last year, the head of an association of leading institutions says. The chairman of the Russell Group, whose members are Britain’s 20 leading research-intensive universities, told The Guardian that he expects most of the group’s members to charge close to the fee ceiling of £9,000 (about $14,500) beginning next year.

British lawmakers voted to allow universities to sharply increase tuition from the current rate of £3,290, with £6,000 expected to be a “basic threshold” for most institutions and the maximum rate of £9,000 intended to be charged only by a handful of universities. Universities that want to charge the maximum will be required to demonstrate that they have implemented policies to ensure that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are not deterred from applying. On Tuesday the government is expected to outline its guidance on the measures universities will be expected to put in place to do so, and in an interview with The Sunday Times the government official who has been appointed to oversee the process said that he wanted most universities to charge £6,000, although universities “will no doubt make the case that they need more than £6,000.”