Students starting university courses are complaining they have been left stranded by delays in processing grants and loans in England.

A student about to start a course in Birmingham says she is planning to sell her car to cover her living costs.

Another student who started last week says she might have to quit her course.

The Student Loans Company cannot say how many funding applications will still remain unprocessed when the university term begins.

Facebook protests

Angry students have started a number of Facebook groups protesting about the difficulties in getting in touch with the Student Loans Company.

There is also an online petition on the Downing Street website urging the prime minister to "investigate the chaos that surrounds Student Finance England".

University authorities and student welfare officers have been advising worried students to apply for emergency funding.

But students still contacting the BBC News website complain of a lack of information about the status of their financial support.

There have been more than 1,500 e-mails sent to the BBC News website from anxious students and their families.

Many e-mails refer to lost documents, confusion over claims and difficulty in reaching helplines.

It has been said by student leaders that the company handling student finance is receiving 100,000 calls each day.

The Student Loans Company will not put a figure on how many applications remain unprocessed or how many weeks or months it could take to deal with outstanding inquiries.

It also will not say whether the number of applications to be processed is reducing or increasing.

Childcare costs

"I am sick to my stomach this week as I am petrified that I will have to give up my course due to the delays caused by student finance," writes Claire Swinmurn.

"I began my PGCE at Oxford Brookes and still have not received any funding from them despite applying in February.

"What makes my situation so much worse is that as a low income family we are so dependent on receiving the child care grant.

"My children have been in nursery full time and I should have paid in excess of £1,000 on 1 September.

"If I do not pay the full amount by the end of this week my children may face losing their place at nursery and I will have no alternative but to end my course which would be extremely upsetting."

Stacie Nicholls, who is starting a law degree in Birmingham at the end of this week, also applied for funding in February but finds herself now in doubt whether she will have any support.

She says lost documents and difficulties in getting through to the Student Loans Company mean that she does not think her finance will be in place.

"After three days of ringing, I finally got through ... to be told that they never received my form. I was in tears and have never been so angry," she says.

She has taken out an overdraft and is planning to sell her car, she says.

"I have always wanted to go to university, this should be one of the happiest periods of my life," she says.

The company administers student finance in England on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

A spokeswoman for the department says the problems are being monitored, but there are no plans to intervene.

Last week Derek Ross, deputy chief executive of the Student Loans Company, promised: "Everyone who applied on time should be paid on time."

(www.eduwo.com, Jainlyn&Charlotte)