This may suggest would-be adult apprentices are being put off by having to borrow to fund their courses, says an education charity.
Official targets are for 25,000 people this year to borrow about Â£4,000 for higher and advanced apprenticeships.
The government says numbers may pick up later in the year.
It points out that not all apprenticeships start at the beginning of the academic year.
Until this year apprentices have not had to contribute to the costs of their training - but from September 2013 some 25,000 over-24s on advanced or higher level apprenticeships have been expected to take out a loan to be paid back once they are earning.
A further 50,000 adults are expected to have their training costs paid by their employers.
Trainees under 24 still do not have to pay.
Figures published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on Thursday show that in the first quarter of 2013-14 only 404 people had applied for the loans.
NIACE says a second set of official figures, published on Thursday show that by contrast some 197,000 people were enrolled on higher and advanced level apprenticeships in 2012-13.
NIACE is concerned that the low uptake of the loans may indicate that would-be trainees are being deterred by being required to part-fund their courses.
The charity's chief executive David Hughes said: "We have continually voiced our concerns about the impact loans for apprenticeships would have.
"However as today's figures show, that impact has been even more severe than anyone first feared."
He called on the government to take "urgent action", including writing off some loans and subsidising under-represented groups on higher and advanced level apprenticeships.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills said: "Application numbers indicate that employers and learners are not engaging with loans in apprenticeships. We are keeping a close watch on the data and the implications for the apprenticeship programme."

Russia's military said it had released 63 captured Ukrainian soldiers in exchange for the paratroopers.
Pro-Russian rebels have made gains against Ukrainian troops in recent days in Donetsk and Luhansk in the east.
The conflict in the east erupted in April following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula.
Some 2,600 people have died in fighting so far.
Major-General Alexei Ragozin, the deputy commander of Russia's paratroop forces, told the RIA news agency that negotiations had been "very difficult".
"The talks were not easy, but common sense prevailed and everything turned out well" he said.
However, he criticised the length of the soldiers' detention.
"I find it unacceptable that the Ukrainian side kept our soldiers for so many days" he said.
"Our lads are upset about everything that happened. They will all receive the necessary psychological and other kinds of help" he added.
Ukraine released video interviews with the captured Russian soldiers last week.
It says the soldiers were captured 20km from the border with Russia.
Russia claimed that the soldiers had crossed in Ukraine "by accident" after inadvertently crossing an unmarked section of the border.
Russia has repeatedly denied Ukrainian and Western accusations that it is supporting the rebels.
The 63 Ukrainian soldiers released were said to have entered Russia to escape the upsurge in fighting last week.
Only 404 people have applied for loans for adult apprenticeships in the three months since September, official data suggests.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Ten Russian paratroopers captured inside Ukraine a week ago have returned home following a troop exchange, Russian media report.