,"We anticipate that key activities at Federal Student Aid will continue for a couple of weeks" after a shutdown.
Again, that doesn't excuse borrowers from making their first payment. That obligation, as well as the accrual of interest, would continue onward like a ghost ship."We have enough funding to continue operations at [loan] servicers for at least a few more weeks," Kvaal told NPR on Friday."After that, there is potential that there could be significant disruption to the service we provide to borrowers, including call center operations.
This past Tuesday, for example: According to unpublished federal data obtained by NPR, one loan servicer had borrowers waiting on the phone an average of just over an hour. Another was even worse: an hour and a half. For both servicers, more than half of borrowers who called hung up before they got through., on average, across a two-week period earlier this month.
When asked for comment, a spokesman for the largest federal student loan servicer, Nelnet, told NPR:"Since it became certain repayment would begin, we have hired hundreds of associates to support student loan borrowers... We expect hundreds of new hires will soon enter the security clearance process. We hope the essential clearance process is not disrupted by a government shutdown during this critical period for borrowers.
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