Story by Anna-Jo Stuart, Reporter

Though the government has been temporarily reopened after a 35 day shutdown, many people were — and remain — concerned over the shutdown’s effects on government services. A particular concern for college students is the shutdown’s potential impact to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, financial support that is critical to most students’ ability to pay for tuition.

Some concerns expressed were that students would be unable to complete their applications and that fund distribution would be delayed. Fortunately thus far it has been stated that there will be no affect to FAFSA due to the shutdown.

Throughout the shutdown, the Department of Education remained open during regular hours. Darcy Kampfschulte, director of Financial Aid at Aquinas College, stated that her department has seen no issues due to the shutdown. 

The Aquinas Financial Aid department functioned as normal during the government shutdown. Kampfschulte confirmed that loan disbursements have been coming in on time for this semester.

Kampfschulte reminds students it is important they complete their FAFSA applications before the Michigan deadline on March 1, so that they can qualify for both State and Federal aid that may apply to them.