Federal student loansOne of the department's major roles is management of the $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio. Student aid will be largely unaffected in the short term, according to the department's shutdown contingency plan. About 9.9 million students receive some form of federal aid, spread across some 5,400 colleges, according to the department. Within the Office of Federal Student Aid, the department plans to furlough 632 of the 747 employees during the shutdown, although it didn't say which ones. Not all federal education money arrives ahead of the school year, however.