The University for the Creative Arts (UCA) based in Kent and Surrey in England is facing a funding cut of 7.8%.
Deputy vice chancellor, Mark Hunt said the government had favoured “stem subjects” such as maths.
Mr Hunt said: “I think the creative arts have been hit particularly, across the country, in terms of their subjects.”
He said the government had favoured subjects such as science, engineering and maths over the creative arts.
At UCA, other income sources included student fees, and governors would be setting fees for the academic year 2012-13 next week, Mr Hunt said.
He said he expected fees at UCA, which has campuses in Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester, to be “towards the top end”.
He also said people were currently “chomping at the bit” to get into UCA’s five campuses and, nationally, there were about 280,000 students applying for art and design degrees.
He said: “We’re a specialist. Alongside the University of Arts London, we receive most applications within the country in terms of what we do. It may be that it’s other providers that have some problems.”
Fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, who studied at the college before it became a university, is now UCA’s chancellor.
