A authorities shutdown on Wednesday would have the potential to disrupt a large number of federal actions — however folks with scholar loans are anticipated to proceed making their repayments, in keeping with the U.S. Division of Schooling.

Individuals with scholar loans “will nonetheless be required to make funds on their excellent scholar debt,” the Schooling Division stated in a Sept. 28 contingency plan for an Oct. 1 federal shutdown. 

There would additionally doubtless be little influence on federal support, equivalent to loans and grants, for college students who’re at present enrolled in faculties and college applications as a result of most funds are disbursed at first of the tutorial yr, in keeping with a press release from the American Council on Schooling, a higher-education advocacy group. 

Nonetheless, some debtors and college students within the purposes stage may encounter hurdles throughout a shutdown, the group added.

“Debtors searching for help from [the Education Department] could face delays, and mortgage forgiveness purposes might be impacted if the shutdown persists,” the American Council on Schooling stated. 

The Schooling Division operates the Public Service Mortgage Forgiveness program, which is geared toward serving to public employees — equivalent to academics and cops — discharge their federal scholar loans after they’ve served in authorities or not-for-profit organizations for greater than 10 years. 

The DOE additionally runs income-driven compensation plans that present forgiveness after 20 – 25 years of compensation. 

About 2,100 of the Schooling Division’s roughly 2,400 staff are anticipated to be furloughed if the federal government shuts down on Wednesday, in keeping with the company’s contingency plan. These embody a lot of the company’s Workplace of Federal Scholar Help, the plan exhibits.

Might Pell Grants or the FAFSA be impacted? 

The Schooling Division stated it could proceed to disburse scholar support equivalent to Pell Grants and Federal Direct Scholar loans within the occasion of a shutdown as a result of these applications are funded by way of necessary spending or carryover appropriations, and subsequently do not require approval from Congress. 

“Greater than 9.9 million college students obtain scholar support, within the type of grants and loans, at roughly 5,400 colleges by way of these applications,” the company famous.

The DOE stated it plans to make use of everlasting appropriations to proceed processing scholar support requests by way of the Free Purposes for Federal Scholar Help, or FAFSA, which opened on Sept. 24 for the 2026-27 tutorial yr. The FAFSA is utilized by mother and father and college students to use for loans, grants and work-study funds to pay for faculty or profession coaching applications. 

Funding for Title I and IDEA grants, that are for low-income colleges and disabled college students, respectively, would additionally proceed to be out there, it added. 

Likewise, most GI Invoice advantages for college students who’re veterans also needs to proceed with out disruption if the federal government shuts down as a result of this system is funded by necessary spending that does not must be re-approved by Congress, in keeping with the American Council on Schooling, which cited the Division of Veterans Affairs’ contingency plan.

“Nonetheless, some delays [for ex-military students] may come up if the shutdown is extended or if college students require further verification, corrections or appeals throughout the lapse,” the ACE famous. 

It added, “In earlier shutdowns, VA has skilled backlogs in claims processing and a slowdown in help providers resulting from furloughed workers and diminished system capability.”

What Schooling Division actions could be impacted? 

New grants could be halted throughout a authorities shutdown, the Schooling Division famous. However since most grants are awarded over the summer season, solely a small variety of recipients would doubtless be impacted, it added. 

“Grantees will proceed to have the ability to draw down funds from these awards and, subsequently, the impacts on colleges and college students must be minimal,” the company stated. “The Workplace for Civil Rights would pause its evaluate and investigations of civil rights complaints.”