Record numbers of university applicants are calling the Student Loans Company because they have not had their money confirmed.

Just weeks before the term starts, students are claiming that that they have not received confirmation of applications and that sent documents have gone missing. A rise in the number of people wanting to go on to higher education and thousands of last-minute applications have been blamed.

A spokeswoman for the Student Loans Company, which oversees the distribution of student loans and maintenance grants, said that all those who applied on time would be paid at the start of term.

Online blogs carry several tales of woe of lost applications and engaged phone lines. One applicant said that she was told it would take six weeks for student finance advisers to open letters.

Another said: “Been waiting since March. People on the phone are no help (often contradict each other), misleading letters, letters asking for things they’ve already had or lost... the list goes on.”

A spokeswoman for the University of the Arts London said: “We are expecting a lot of people to turn up at the end of September without knowing how they are going to pay their tuition fees, or whether they are going to have any money to live on.”

Julia Manley, a senior student money adviser at Anglia Ruskin University, said that those most in need of help could be among the worst hit, because means-tested applications take longer to process.

This year is the first time that all new students in England have had to apply for financial help through a single body rather than through their local authorities, resulting in speculation that the system has been overstretched.

The deadline for applications was in June but thousands of late applications are still being dealt with in order of university start date.

A spokeswoman for the Student Loans Company said: “More than 700,000 people are scheduled for payment at the start of university term and we’re putting all of our available resources behind dealing with the unprecedented level of calls that we are receiving.

“We are processing late applications at a faster rate than any other year and are currently processing applications received two weeks ago.”

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