With the current lapse in appropriations to fund the federal government, including the U.S. Department of Education (ED), we would like to remind the community that there is minimal impact on students, borrowers, schools, lenders, and guaranty agencies and their ability to participate in the Title IV programs. While our federal offices, including those located in the regional cities, are closed during a lapse in appropriations, the majority of our Federal Student Aid (FSA) processors, contact centers, and websites remain operational.
In this announcement, we provide details about FSA's operations during a lapse in appropriations, including impact on communications, customer service contact centers, processing systems, and training events.
We are operating as follows:
Communications on the Knowledge Center website will be limited during the lapse in appropriations. Please monitor the Knowledge Center website for information following the reopening of the federal government.
We will update many of our student-facing websites, including StudentAid.gov, with general information for students, parents, and borrowers about the lapse in appropriations. Users can log in to StudentAid.gov. However, we will not routinely update StudentAid.gov.
Most of our customer service contact centers remain open, including 1-800-4-FED-AID. Contact information for each FSA customer service and processing center is available in the Help Center on the FSA Partner Connect website.
Note: Contact centers that are staffed by FSA employees are closed during a lapse in appropriations and calls and email messages will not be returned until after the federal government reopens. This includes the eZ-Audit contact center (at 1-877-263-0780 and fsaezaudit@ed.gov) and the School Eligibility and Oversight Services Branch (at caseteams@ed.gov). Automated messages are in place to inform customers of the closure.
All core operations are continuing at the federal loan servicers—MOHELA, Nelnet, Aidvantage, CRI, Edfinancial, and ECSI, as well as the Default Resolution Group—including contact center operations, billing, receipt of payments, and deferment and forbearance processing. Borrowers should still make payments on federal student loans. Processing of refunds and discharges could be delayed.
The Office of Consumer Education and Ombudsman is unable to respond to requests during a lapse in appropriations. Accordingly, resolution of pending and new cases may be delayed. Customers can continue to submit complaints and other feedback online at StudentAid.gov/feedback.
Campus-Based Program Processing—The Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) website is operational during a lapse in appropriations. Schools can continue to make awards and disburse funds to students using their 2025–26 allocations. There is no change to the Feb. 2, 2026, deadline to request a waiver of the 2026–27 award year penalty of Federal Work-Study (FWS) and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) for the underuse of 2024–25 award year funds (refer to the Jan. 26, 2026, Electronic Announcement for more information).
The ECSI Federal Perkins Loan Servicer and Perkins Loan Assignment System website is operational, and authorized users can submit assignments. Requests for user access continue to be processed.
COD System—The COD System continues to process Direct Loan promissory notes, accept and process data for all programs from schools, and send back responses/acknowledgments. Schools can receive federal student aid funds. Users can submit and retrieve data and access the COD Reports area of the COD website.
During the lapse in appropriations, borrowers and TEACH Grant recipients can complete all actions and view correspondence on StudentAid.gov.
Electronic Cohort Default Rate Appeals (eCDR Appeals)—The eCDR Appeals website is operational but is currently not open for submissions. Schools will be able to submit challenges, adjustments, and appeals after the FY 2023 Draft CDRs are released, expected by the end of February.
FAFSA® form and the FAFSA Processing System (FPS)—Students and their contributors can continue to start, fill out, and submit a FAFSA form at fafsa.gov. The FAFSA Partner Portal is available to schools. FPS continues to accept data from schools and applicants, process Institutional Student Information Records, and send FAFSA Submission Summaries.
FSA Partner Connect—The FSA Partner Connect website is operational, including the Application for Approval to Participate in the Federal Student Financial Aid Programs (E-App) and FSA Systems and Services Enrollment.
G5—The G5 website is operational and schools can draw down funds. Staffing at the G5 Hotline is limited, and responses to customer inquiries may be delayed.
HEAL Online Processing System (HOPS)—HEAL claims may be filed by lenders during a lapse in appropriations; however, there will be no claim processing until the federal government reopens.
National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS®)—NSLDS Professional Access is available to all authorized users. NSLDS users can request and receive both automated and on-demand reports. Data providers can submit information to the NSLDS website.
Section 117 Reporting Portal—The reporting portal at ForeignFundingHigherEd.gov is available. There is no change to the Feb. 2, 2026, reporting deadline as described in the Jan. 2, 2026, Electronic Announcement.
Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG)—The TDCM Web Portal and the FTI-TDCM Web Portal are operational. Schools can send and receive data using their SAIG mailbox and receive data using their FTI-SAIG Mailbox.
Scheduled system outages and other weekly maintenance outages will occur, as planned.
Schools can continue to submit eligibility actions using FSA Partner Connect. We will address all applications submitted during the closure after the government reopens. Schools that need assistance with system access or application submission should contact the FSA Partner and School Relations Center at 1-800-848-0978. The caseteams@ed.gov mailbox will not be monitored during the closure.
All schools currently on HCM2 may submit a reimbursement claim during the lapse in appropriations. However, the claim may not be processed until the government reopens.
Compliance audits and financial statements can be submitted through the eZ-Audit website.
Any program reviews scheduled during a lapse in appropriations will be rescheduled.
FFEL Program lenders and guaranty agencies will continue their operations during the lapse in appropriations. FSA will process the ED Form 799/LaRS and the Form 2000. Please direct all questions to either fsa_lr@ed.gov or fsa_gar@ed.gov.
The FSA Training Center website is operational; however, any webinar or training workshop scheduled during the lapse in appropriations will be canceled, including Fundamentals of Federal Student Aid Administration training workshops. After the federal government reopens, we will provide information about rescheduled sessions through Training Announcements posted on the Knowledge Center website.
FSA staff cannot attend national, state, or regional conferences during the lapse in appropriations. We will make every effort to contact the conference chair to inform them of the situation.
We do not anticipate any impact to the 2026 Federal Student Aid Training Conference on March 4–6, 2026.
If you need assistance during the lapse in appropriations, please contact the appropriate customer service contact center. Contact information for each FSA customer service and processing center is available in the Help Center on the FSA Partner Connect website. As explained above, most of our contact centers are open. Otherwise, we will be ready to serve you after the federal government reopens.