Universities over-recruited about 6,000 students this academic year, the Higher Education Funding Council for England has revealed.

Collectively, around 20 institutions that overshot government-imposed limits are now facing fines of more than £22 million, although this will be offset by the additional fee income.

The government warned institutions last year not to accept more students in 2009-10 than they recruited in 2008-09, or risk financial penalties.

Ministers later set fines at £3,700 per student, meaning that the 20 or so universities could see their grants cut by a total of more than £22 million. Hefce has previously estimated the total fines at about £10 million.

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One of the universities affected is the University of Hertfordshire, which recruited about 553 more full-time UK students than its agreed cap.

A university spokeswoman said: “This is a result of more students accepting places than anticipated, together with an unusually low rate of withdrawal and unprecedented demand for foundation degrees at the university’s consortium of further education colleges.”

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Another institution facing a hefty fine is the University of Greenwich, which estimates that it has over-recruited up to 154 students.

At a press conference to announce the 2010-11 university grant allocations on 17 March, Sir Alan Langlands, Hefce chief executive, said the council was still in discussions with the over-recruiting institutions about the levels of fines they would receive. Final figures would be announced in July, he added.

He pointed out that students’ tuition fees of £3,200 per head would offset the fines. However, Times Higher Education has learned that universities whose funding allocations were docked for over-recruitment could risk losing the sums permanently.

Papers from a Hefce board meeting in January say “categoric decisions” have not yet been made about whether adjustments to funding for 2010-11 should be permanent.

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“Recurrent reductions would, of course, be a very significant price to pay by institutions for the temporary benefit of additional fee income,” the papers say.

To avoid this, universities should offset the numbers that they over-recruited in 2009-10 against their 2008-09 numbers, the board papers add.

This would mean Greenwich would have to recruit 154 fewer students in 2010-11 than it accepted in 2008-09.

If institutions do not do this “there will remain a risk that any reductions to grant for 2010-11 will also be consolidated into a lower baseline for subsequent years”, Hefce warns.

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A Hefce spokesman said: “If a university’s grant is reduced for having over-recruited in 2009-10 then this may (whole or in part) be repeated in 2010-11, unless they recruit below their control total in 2010-11.”

melanie.newman@tsleducation.com