If the government shuts down on the same day student loan payments are set to restart, here's what could happen. While the looming government shutdown is getting a lot of attention, another date is fast approaching — the return of student loan payments on October 1. In the event of a shutdown, one federal agency that may potentially find itself in a tight spot is the Department of Education (DoE), which administers federal loans to students, making this one more way a government shutdown could a