Not only will a university that overshoots its target numbers lose out on this government funding, but it may also be fined enough to recover the extra students' fees and maintenance grants.
The reason reversing such gains is hard is that servicing this extra flesh means a person's maintenance diet (the food required to keep his body ticking over) creeps up with his weight and so does his appetite.
It was revealed in 2006 the UK had 160 "operationally available" warheads but the extra numbers needed above this to allow for maintenance were not stated.
The head of highways, Ian Turner, could not confirm exactly how much extra it had spent but said it was because of labour costs and vehicle maintenance.