According to latest information on support provided to care leavers by universities and colleges across England and Scotland, 86 per cent of higher education institutions offer 365-day-a-year accommodation.
That represents a fall of seven percentage points on the figure last year of 93 per cent.
The proportion of universities that have a named contact that care leavers can go to for advice, help and support has also dropped, from 95 per cent in 2013 to 92 per cent this year.
And the number of institutions that contact care leavers once they have been offered a place to let them know what support is available has fallen from 83 per cent to 81 per cent.
The information has been collated from an annual online guide, published by the Who Cares? Trust, which details support provided by universities for care leavers.
This year, the survey found that more than half (56 per cent) of the 140 institutions that took part offer specific additional funding that care leavers can apply for. A comparable figure for 2013, when 117 institutions took part, was not available.
Currently, only about six per cent of care leavers go to university, compared to 38 per cent of the general population.
Natasha Finlayson, chief executive of The Who Cares? Trust, said society must be more ambitious for young care leavers and make sure they see higher education as a real option for them.
“The very low numbers of young people from care who go to university – compared with other young people – is a national disgrace," she said.
“For those who do get there, research shows that there are a number of stresses which can lead to them dropping out.
“Chief among these worries are shortage of money, fear of debt, psychological problems arising from care and pre-care experiences, lack of emotional support and difficulty with academic work, sometimes attributable to gaps in earlier schooling."
She added: “There is plenty of dedicated support available from universities and colleges for care leavers that would help to keep them in higher education, but most care leavers simply aren’t aware of it."
A CYP Now investigation last October found that while the number of care leavers in higher education is on the increase, the amount they receive in financial support has fallen by more than 20 per cent.
