Up to 40 further education colleges were forced to close today as lecturers and support staff stage a one-day strike.
The Association of Colleges said between 30 and 40, or 10%, of general FE and specialist colleges were unable to open. At another 15% of colleges, departments were closed or students stayed at home.
But a spokesman for lecturers' union Natfhe said around 3.5 million students at 250 colleges will have been affected by the strike.
About 30,000 lecturers were not at work today, he said, before warning that more strikes were possible.
"People are really cheesed off. The number of people leaving FE to go and teach in schools is now quite a crisis in terms of staffing colleges, and our members are very unhappy that promises about bridging the pay gap have not been kept."
Lecturer and support staff unions staged the one-day walkout in protest at an AoC pay offer worth 2.3%.
College principals laid the blame at the government's door, saying it was up to ministers to sort the problem out with extra cash for the sector.
It was the first time in a decade that any of England's general FE colleges had been closed by strike action, the AoC said.
The government has promised a real terms rise in FE funding but this will not kick in until next April.
In the meantime, a £32m pay boost announced in September by higher education minister Margaret Hodge was only enough to give each member of staff a one-off payment of £140, the AoC added.
It is expecting education secretary Charles Clarke to make an announcement on long-term funding for FE colleges at the AoC's annual conference on November 19.
AoC director of employment policy Ivor Jones said the unions should have waited for his statement and not "pre-judged the outcome with strike action".
He added: "The commitment of AoC to college staff remains steadfast on the issue of pay - we want to secure equality of pay with schools and other training providers for all staff in general further education colleges."
Teachers in schools can earn 12% more than lecturers, even though the FE sector in England, Wales and Northern Ireland educates more pupils - 666,000 compared with 405,000.
An AoC spokeswoman said many of these students were in the "vulnerable" category the government is trying to encourage to stay on in education after the age of 16.
It was for that reason ministers had the prime responsibility for resolving the pay dispute, she added.
The strike is being staged in England and sixth-form colleges were unaffected.
