Around 2,000 people in Leeds could be affected by government proposals to hike fees on EU students.
Currently, EU students studying at English universities pay the same as UK nationals, as they qualify for 'home fees status'.
However, the government is yet to deny leaked plans reported last weekend that would remove this status. That would mean EU students would be charged significantly higher fees currently paid by non-European foreign students.
Official figures from the Higher Education Statistics Authority show that 1,985 EU students were studying at Leeds-based universities in 2017/18.
There were 1,510 studying at the University of Leeds, 415 studying at Leeds Beckett University, 30 studying at Leeds Arts University, and 30 studying at Leeds Trinity University.
Those currently studying will continue to have home-fee status, so will not pay higher fees.
However, the figures give an indication of how many are likely to be affected if the government presses ahead with the proposals.
EU countries are also expected to raise their fees for UK students if the government goes ahead with scrapping the home fee status for EU nationals.
According to figures from UNESCO, approximately 11,200 UK students study abroad in other EU countries - not including those on exchange programmes.
Student representatives from Leeds are among almost 100 others from across the country in signing an open letter to UK Education Secretary Damian Hinds MP, in response to the reports, which were first reported by Buzzfeed.
Coordinated by For our Future’s Sake, the campaign currently has 103 signatures from 56 students' unions in total.
Chris Morris, Union Affairs Officer of Leeds University Students' Union and a supporter of For our Future's Sake said: "We are proud that Leeds University has thousands of students from across the world, including the European Union.
"EU students are a massive benefit to Leeds and across the Yorkshire and Humber region, and this planned move by the government will hurt our region, Leeds University and future students alike."
On Tuesday, universities minister Chris Skidmore said in the House of Commons that a decision had not yet been taken on EU students fees, but did not rule out a rise.
He argued that it was a matter of fairness that EU students pay the same tuition fees as those from India or China after Brexit, adding that issues around fees were for future negotiations with the EU.
He said: "In July 2018, we announced that students from the European Union starting courses in England in the 2019-20 academic year will continue to be eligible for home fees status, which means that they will be charged the same tuition fees as UK students and have access to tuition fee loans for the duration of their studies.
"Applications for students studying in academic year 2020-21 open in September 2019 and the Government will provide sufficient notice for prospective EU students and the wider higher education sector on fee arrangements ahead of the 2020-21 academic year and the subsequent years, which, as I have just stated, will obviously reflect our future relationship with European Union and the negotiations on that going forward."
Amatey Doku, NUS Vice President (Higher Education) said: "This announcement is a backwards step for the UK higher education sector, sending out the worst message to our EU partners and shutting out many talented students from our world class educational institutions.
"Not only does this impact on EU students who will not be able to afford to study here, UK students will miss out on the benefits of studying in a diverse learning environment.
"On both counts it will severely damage the quality of education UK students receive."
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