Young people who do not identify as either male or female are flipping a coin to decide which gender to state on their university application form because the organisation in charge of entry provides only two options, BuzzFeed News can reveal.

Other transgender, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming students are delaying or even putting off applying altogether.

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), which runs the application system for higher education institutions across the UK, insists on individuals stating either "male" or "female" in order to register with the organisation.

And although UCAS provides a gender-neutral title option – Mx – this only extends to someone's prefix and they still have to state either male or female for their gender. This lack of a third option, say campaigners, is deterring applicants, many of whom are only just coming to terms with their gender identity.

Angela and Keith Farnish, the parents of a nonbinary teenager, have been campaigning for the last two years to persuade UCAS to update the registering system and provide for those who don’t identify as male or female, after their child Kaelin initially decided not to go to university rather than have to pretend to be one or the other.

The Farnishes told BuzzFeed News that lobbying UCAS since 2015 has led to the organisation repeatedly promising to change the application system – and failing to do so.

In a string of messages, conversations, and emails between the couple and UCAS, as well as exchanges between an organisation for trans people and UCAS, the admissions service says it will widen the gender field the following year. But each year it does not.

These exchanges began in 2014 following an online petition calling for a change in the system, which the Scottish Trans Alliance discussed with UCAS.

In an email, UCAS told the alliance: “…we will be making changes to the way in which we gather information about gender and sex as quickly as we possibly can…the UCAS change process is a complicated one with a number of dependencies, both within UCAS and external organisations. Due to this the change will not be an immediate one, but it will be within the 2015 cycle and we will strive to ensure it is finalised ahead of the January 15 application deadline.”