Students are to get more information than ever before about the cost of university - and how to fund their higher education.

The government has launched a website at http://yourfuture.direct.gov.uk to explain the impact of cost of university and what financial support is available.

Its designed to ensure that students applying to start university in the 2012/13 academic year have clear picture of the money they will need to pay before, during and after university, together with a repayment calculator to help understand how loans will be repaid.

The information will also be reproduced in leaflet form.

The NUS has welcomed the move to provide comprehensive information which will allow prospective students to make clear choices, but has criticised the information as inaccurate and potentially confusing.

NUS President, Aaron Porter, said: "The ambition to explain the changes to the higher education funding system and to provide students with the information they need to make well informed decisions about whether to go to university is one we fully support. "

"However, the leaflets and website that so far form this campaign will not serve to properly explain the system and in fact the caveats, half-truths, and omissions mean that many students will quite understandably be more bewildered than before. For those of us who care about access to university this is simply not a satisfactory state of affairs."

"It would have been better to wait until MPs had actually voted on the final details of the financial scheme instead of jumping the gun by publishing muddled and confusing leaflets."

He added: "Despite repeated assertions that taking out a student loan will not affect a graduate’s ability to get a mortgage, the Government has finally admitted that repayments can influence lenders’ decisions."

"Under the new proposals, graduates are likely to be making repayments for many more years than they do currently which means their ability to get on the property ladder may be severely impacted by these liabilities.”