What does the government shutdown mean for student loans?

There are many questions that come up during a government shutdown and one may be about what will happen to student loans.
When it comes to your student loan payments that are due, those still have to be paid.
“Keep paying your loans if you can. If you’re not impacted by being furloughed as a government employee, then keep paying your loans, because to not pay them is potentially going to put them into default, and put you in a position where interest is going to keep accruing,” said Stephen Kates, a financial analyst for Bankrate.
When it comes to any changes you might need to make to your plans though, or if you have new loans, those may take a bit of time.
“Processing of new loans, processing of any of the repayment plans around the income-driven repayment, other situations like that, could be delayed, could have minimal coverage. So people may find that if they have questions that go beyond just their servicer for the loan, then they may be kind of left wondering,” Kates said.
And if you have questions, those might have to wait. There could be delays as many of those federal employees who process changes and new loans could have been furloughed.
“Customer service support is going to be slower or possibly not accessible at all. If some of the federal workers furloughed are unable to deal with this, from a Department of Education perspective, borrowers that might be relying on help for account changes or troubleshooting, they are probably going to be the ones most affected,” Kates said.
He said, overall, they’re seeing recent graduates in their early 20s having trouble finding jobs to starting paying off those loans.
“There is an increase in a lot of student loan delinquency, and so we’re seeing that in some states more than others, but we’re seeing it rise nationally. And that’s not getting any easier,” Kates said.
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