Government shutdown’s impact on colleges currently minimal

[UDPATED at 7:50 p.m. Stores and restaurants in Washington, D.C. offered free hamburgers and other comforts Tuesday to furloughed workers to take their mind off the shutdown. For many of the employees, the mood is heavy with anxiety.

“This whole situation, it’s crappy… for a lot of our federal employees, especially (those) with families,” said Rene Tiongquico, a UCLA alumnus who was furloughed from his job at the Department of Education Tuesday. He said he doesn’t know when his next paycheck will come.

For the first time in 17 years, the federal government has stopped operating many of its agencies due to Congress’ failure to agree on a spending bill in time. The partial shutdown could eventually cut financial aid, grants and other federal funds that UCLA and other colleges receive.

The shutdown has also left hundreds of thousands of federal employees, among them UCLA alumni like Tiongquico, furloughed indefinitely without pay.

The federal government shut down on Tuesday at midnight, after Congress failed to agree on and pass a spending bill. Members of Congress were especially divided on the Affordable Care Act, which some House Republicans are trying to strip of its funding.]

It is uncertain how long the shutdown will last, said Jim Desveaux, associate director of the Center for American Politics and Public Policy at UCLA. The last government shutdown, which occurred in 1995 and 1996, lasted 21 days.

Government agencies deemed less essential for protecting life and property – including the U.S. Department of Education and research agencies like the National Science Foundation – have ordered their employees to stay home, closed their doors to the public and temporarily taken down their websites.

Parts of the government that were deemed necessary for national security and other services, such as the military and the postal service, will continue their operations.

The shutdown’s direct impact on colleges, however, is expected to be minimal for now.

“If it’s a short government shutdown, we expect limited disruption,” said Chris Harrington, the spokesman for the University of California’s office in Washington, D.C.

Harrington said the UC does not expect the shutdown to affect federal student aid programs, since the date for setting the next financial aid distribution is the beginning of the next fiscal year, July 1, 2014.

According to the U.S. Department of Education’s contingency plan, distributions from financial aid programs will continue since many already have remaining balances.

Student loans and Pell Grants, which are deemed mandatory obligations by the U.S. Department of Education, are also set to continue distribution normally.

However, if the government shutdown lasts longer than a week, the fiscal impact on UCLA and other colleges could become more severe.

The Department of Education warned in its contingency plan that if the shutdown goes on for more than a week, it “would severely curtail the cash flow to school districts, colleges and universities … that depend on the Department’s funds to support their services.”

University researchers will be able to continue using research funds from federal agencies that have already been issued for their work, but no new research grants will be given until funding is restored to the federal government.

Because the University also receives reimbursements for providing Medicare and Medicaid services, it could lose money if the government doesn’t resume its operations to repay the UC, Harrington said.

Patti Manheim, director of UCLA’s Office of Contract and Grant Administration, issued a statement Tuesday telling UCLA researchers to continue their applications for research grants despite the shutdown of federal research agencies, including the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health.

She said in the statement that her office will continue to review grant applications, and that deadline dates for grant applications may be adjusted.

[UPDATED at 7:50 p.m. For those who are furloughed, however, the future seems much more unclear.

Tiongquico said he might have to tell his student loan lender he cannot pay his student loans because his employer has been shut down by the government. He said he would spend his first day off because of the shutdown with simple chores – cleaning his home and starting on his Christmas cards.

“I’m trying to be optimistic and take the proverbial lemons and make them into lemonade,” Tiongquco said.]

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