Here’s How to Get Student Loan Help Despite Service Disruption Amid the US Government Shutdown

While on intermittent family medical leave for an illness, Brown fell behind on car payments. However, she had an arrangement to make them up, as soon as she returned to work and received her first paycheck in October.
But just as she returned to work, the federal government shut down. She received a partial paycheck, but when she left her Arlington, Virginia, condo one day, she noticed the car had been taken.
Brown explained the circumstances, that her checks are paused during the shutdown. The amount she owed was reduced, but she still only has “so much time to redeem the car.”
It was a blow for Brown, who was planning to donate plasma and make deliveries through DoorDash, as part of a plan to get paid while the shutdown continued.
Brown has worked at the U.S. Government Publishing Office in D.C. for over two decades, and has experienced multiple other shutdowns. Her kids were younger, but she described those past shutdowns as less stressful.
“It’s like a financial apocalypse for us, or a Great Depression even,” Brown said.
Brown is considered an essential worker, so she’s required to work her regular shifts even though she isn’t immediately getting paid. So far, Brown said she’s gone without one full paycheck and half another.
“There’s a lot of blame going on, and in the meantime, we are just regular people,” Brown said. “We just want our paychecks.”
Virginia law protects federal workers from eviction or foreclosure during a shutdown, something Brown described as essential to ensuring government employees don’t lose their homes.
She’s taken steps to navigate the uncertainly she’s under, including a fundraiser, canceling an upcoming trip and deciding not to buy cake for her daughter’s recent birthday.
She also asked her other daughter, who has two kids, to borrow money so she could travel to sell her phone.
“I just feel like we’re put into a corner, and we’re just left to the wolves, or just, ‘Here, here’s your cup, go ask for money,’” Brown said.
Brown has messaged members of Congress asking for help, but she said she has largely received generic, boilerplate responses. She’s avoided checking news sites because of comments criticizing some federal workers for failing to save or spending every check.
“This is all about humanity and the workers and families,” Brown said. “Nobody can get by, nobody that I know, for free, and then going to work. We’re not independently wealthy.”
If the shutdown lasts much longer, Brown said she may have to consider disability retirement, which could offer a reliable check.
“I’m hoping that by the time there is another shutdown, I’m retired,” Brown said. “I don’t think I could deal with this again.”
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