What Does a Government Shutdown Mean for College Students

On Oct. 1, the U.S. Government shutdown resulted in the closure of various agencies, workers being suspended or unpaid and a halt in many government actions. The effect it will have on colleges and universities may start small but could grow to be a serious concern.

At the start, federal student aid and payments will continue as normal, but new grant-making opportunities will be suspended until the reopening of the government. However, the longer the shutdown lasts, the harder it will be for new loans and grants to be given for current and incoming students. 

“Prior to the shutdown, it was already known that FSA had a significant backlog in application processing. With staff now placed in furlough, it’s unclear how or if these applications will be processed during the shutdown” Elaine Rubin, Director of Corporate Communications at Edvisors said. “If they are not processed, or processing slows, the backlog may grow and may leave borrowers waiting more than six-months for processing.”

In the event the shutdown lasts for more than a few weeks, students may see delays in payments or forgivenesses, yet they won’t be outright paused.

Additionally, any civil rights investigations involving a college, university, or other forms of higher education will be paused.

Those sum up the short term effects of the shutdown on students, but the overall long term effects could last for months, even years. 

While planning a budget, universities and colleges do not account for a government shutdown, resulting in a potential loss of revenue. This could result in financial cuts to events, clubs, and, in dire circumstances, staff. It is likely that costs would also increase to make up the lost revenue. 

Public Research universities would take a big hit in research, halting most of its travel and basic research studies. This could result in breakthroughs being delayed or time-sensitive experiments/trials being scrapped or ruined.

For larger studies, the funding to suspend and restart could be harder to get and may be abandoned entirely. 

Association of Public and Land-grant Universities President, Waded Cruzado, said that the negative impacts for Public Research Universities would be “far-reaching.”

  “Public research universities are pioneering the next stage of innovation in partnership with the federal government…This research requires active work with partners at federal agencies who are now prohibited from working during the shutdown” Cruzado said. 

The Department of Education will most likely take the biggest long-term hit. According to PBS News, when the second Trump administration started The DoE employed around 4,100 workers, yet since the start of the administration to now, that number has decreased to around 2,500. 

With the government shutdown, about 87% of those employees are furloughed, or suspended without pay.

Typically, those workers would return after the shutdown, but recently the White House’s of Management and Budget said that some furloughed workers may be fired once the government is reopened. A statement echoed by President Trump during a press conference on Sept. 30.

“We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them. Like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like” Trump said.