As college gets increasingly more expensive, more students turn to the federal government for financial aid. In the 2023-2024 school year, federal programs disbursed $114.9 billion in student grants and loans. One such program, FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), is a way for students to get federal aid to pay for college. High schoolers can apply during the fall of senior year, around the same time as college applications. The FAFSA form allows people to be eligible for aid such as federal grants, work-study funds, and loans, and many states, colleges, and private aid providers also use FAFSA information to determine eligibility for aid. FAFSA is the largest source of financial aid to help pay for college, and the form is free, so it’s a great resource to use.
However, some people are concerned about how the government shutdown will affect FAFSA. On October 1, the government shut down after Congress couldn’t pass the federal budget bill. Each fiscal year for the federal government starts on October 1, which means that a new budget must be passed by the end of September. If this doesn’t happen, the government will shut down until a new budget is passed. During a shutdown, all federal programs will stop working except for essential services like things related to national security and public safety, although they’ll still be affected. For example, since all federal employees are either furloughed or required to work without pay during a shutdown, the Burbank airport in California had no air traffic controllers for about six hours on October 6.
The Department of Education plans to continue processing FAFSA forms, as well as disperse student loans and collect loan payments. However, roughly 87% of the department’s staff is expected to be furloughed, including 632 of the 747 Office of Federal Student Aid employees. This means that while FAFSA is still up and running, there could be delays or other issues related to a staff shortage, such as people needing assistance by phone or email not getting in contact with the department for a while.
The last time the government was shut down was seven years ago, and was the longest government shutdown in history. It began on December 22, 2018, and lasted for 35 days until January 25. There’s no telling how long the current shutdown will last, although it’s predicted to become the longest ever.
