Stay Connected

As of October 1, 2025, the U.S. federal government is in a partial shutdown after Congress failed to pass new funding legislation. While many essential operations will continue, several functions within the Department of Education (ED) and Federal Student Aid are being furloughed, raising concerns about potential disruptions for student loan borrowers. Key Impacts to Watch Loan payments remain due. Borrowers must continue making payments during the shutdown. Servicing and s

When borrowers visit Studentaid.gov, they can see their balances and explore repayment options. But what they don’t get is clarity. The federal simulator is limited to static “what-if” numbers that assume every borrower’s situation fits neatly into one model. The reality is—it doesn’t. That’s why Student Debt Solutions (SDS) built a calculator system designed to do far more than show balances. Our calculators are interactive, dynamic, and guided by a real decision framework t

For millions of borrowers, today’s student-loan landscape feels like a maze with moving walls. Rules, income-driven plans, forgiveness pathways, and default remedies all exist—but stitching them into a usable, personalized plan is hard. Servicers are built to administer accounts, not to model strategy; StudentAid.gov is rich with information, but thin on end-to-end execution for complex, mixed-loan situations. The result is that borrowers often face less-than-optimal choic