Chris Banyas
Staff Writer
On Oct. 1, 2013, the U.S. government effectively shut down as a result of Congress failing to agree on the budget for the upcoming year of 2014 or a plan regarding the national debt ceiling. Idaho State University has already felt the impact of the shutdown and may face even more effects going forward.
The fiscal year that the United States government operates on runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.
Hundreds of thousands of government employees were furloughed, or temporarily laid off, until Congress could come to an agreement.
“What they did is, and I’m trying to clarify with a lot of people because the way it made it seem like all these guys got fired or laid off. That’s not what happened. They’re still all going to get paid,” said Maj. Matthew Godfrey, Chair of the Reserve Officer Training Corps at ISU, speaking about two government service employees in his office.
After the shutdown, Godfrey had to make sure these employees did not work beyond the pay the government had allocated for them up to that point.
“The good news is last Saturday Secretary Hagel, who’s the Defense Department secretary, said OK, these guys all need to go back to work,” said Godfrey.
The shutdown has also affected many students who attend ISU, particularly those involved in the ROTC program.
“Some of my cadets, how they’re being affected is that the tuition assistance is on hold, the G.I. Bill is on hold and also they get a stipend when they contract into the program,” said Godfrey.
Godfrey explained that while all of these things have been temporarily interrupted, the students will still receive them. They will just be received later than expected.
“I have some students that are on scholarship or getting some room and board. We are submitting their invoices now and so as soon as it gets turned on, the university gets paid, and the good thing is the university understands that,” said Godfrey. “There’s a lot of institutions that are pretty good about it. However, there’s not much I can do when it comes to Citibank, Century Link, Cable One, Idaho Power. They have a business to run; they are not affected by this. That’s a small population, the government service industry as opposed to the greater society as a whole. Those are the issues and that’s where the rub, if you will, the pain comes in.”
Students who are not involved in the military or ROTC program may still feel the effects of the shutdown in the future.
According to James Fletcher, vice president of finance and administration at ISU, whatever happens with the shutdown could possibly affect federal grants for the university as well as financial aid.
Student employees of the Idaho National Laboratory may feel the effect of the shutdown as well beginning Friday, Oct. 18, if the shutdown continues.
The most recent shutdown of the government occurred over several weeks in 1995 and 1996. Budgetary disagreements were also the cause of that shutdown.
