University of Technology, Sydney Vice-Chancellor Attila Brungs said it was ‘‘unreasonable for fee regulation to proceed for 2016 due to a lack of time to consider and implement any final legislation and to provide appropriate advice to prospective students.’’

Macquarie University also called for the delay based on students accepting offers this year without knowing if their fees would rise over the course of their degree.

‘‘The retrospective nature of the government’s proposals, in that students are accepting offers in 2015 without knowing what their fees will be post-2016, is not ideal,’’ a spokesman said. 

The ability of the controversial reforms to pass the Senate was further threatened after crossbencher Ricky Muir reportedly withdrew his support on Tuesday. 

When asked if students receiving UOW offers today should be worried about fee hikes next year, a University of Wollongong spokesman said: ‘‘Prospective students around Australia are aware of the proposals under consideration, due to the communications efforts of universities and the Commonwealth Department of Education.’’

UOW is reporting record number of offers being sent to prospective students this year.

While unavailable to answer the Mercury’s questions, Professor Wellings found the time to comment on the 4800 main round offers sent out by the university.

‘‘The university’s new projects, including the $44 million Early Start initiative, state-of-the-art science teaching laboratories and new student accommodation will cater to current and future growth in student numbers,’’ he said.

Prof Wellings was previously criticised for being ‘‘ out of touch’’ due to his opinion piece in the Financial Review supporting fee deregulation and the chance for universities to set their own pricing. 

‘‘After all those years when the sector was controlled by volume (the number of students) and price (the fees associated with each degree) we should be celebrating the chance to do something different,’’ he wrote.