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The Liberal Democrat spoke on Thursday after the business secretary backed a report by Lord Browne which said fees should be unlimited.
He said a party election pledge to scrap fees – backed by Mrs Burt – was ‘no longer feasible’. He is now considering the Government’s final policy.
Mrs Burt said: “Will my right hon. Friend do all that he can to stop higher education from disintegrating into a free market free-for-all, either by imposing a cap or by requiring a high proportion of additional fees levied by some of the top universities to be paid out in bursaries to poorer students?”
Mr Cable said: “Yes, my hon. Friend is quite right; there has to be choice and there will be some competition between universities, which is welcome.
“That is very far short of a laissez-faire free market. We do not want that.
“There has to be protection for low-income students when they graduate. We will build in those protections and will ensure that there is a proper progressive scheme.”
A December press release from Mrs Burt said the party had ‘confirmed their commitment to scrapping student tuition fees’.
Mrs Burt, who had signed a National Union of Students pledge to vote against any rise in fees, said: “This is an important step to benefit anyone in Solihull who would be considering university education.
“Whether you want to study locally or go further a field, the decision should be based on your aspirations, grades and intelligence, not the wealth of your parents.
“It's simply wrong to penalise people who want to make the best of themselves by saddling them with enormous mortgage-style debts from the day they graduate.
“My priority is making degrees affordable for people here in Solihull, and that means scrapping these unfair fees.”
Lord Browne recommends that students would get a loan to pay the fees and this would be repayed once they reached £21,000 a year.
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