Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    College Advising
    Serving Higher Ed
    Chronicle Festival 2025
Sign In
Government

How a Government Shutdown Would Affect Academe

By Kelly Field, Paul Basken, and Jennifer Howard September 30, 2013
The federal government will roll to a halt just after midnight on Monday if Congress fails to pass a stopgap spending bill. Researchers who use government collections and employees paid through federal grants would feel the effects of a shutdown first.
The federal government will roll to a halt just after midnight on Monday if Congress fails to pass a stopgap spending bill. Researchers who use government collections and employees paid through federal grants would feel the effects of a shutdown first.Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Washington

If Congress fails to reach agreement on a stopgap spending bill and the government shuts down on Tuesday, the impact on colleges, students, and university scientists would be minimal, at least at first.

But researchers who depend on government-run archives, libraries, and museums could see their work interrupted, and some university employees whose salaries are paid by the federal government may have to wait for their paychecks.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

If Congress fails to reach agreement on a stopgap spending bill and the government shuts down on Tuesday, the impact on colleges, students, and university scientists would be minimal, at least at first.

But researchers who depend on government-run archives, libraries, and museums could see their work interrupted, and some university employees whose salaries are paid by the federal government may have to wait for their paychecks.

Student Aid

The shutdown would not disrupt the awarding of student aid or the servicing of student loans, at least in the short term, according to the Education Department’s contingency plan. Commercial student-loan servicers and other contractors could continue to work for “some short period of time,” but they would have to wait to be paid, and no new contracts would be awarded.

Colleges with government grants could continue their work.

But a lapse of longer than a week could “severely curtail the cash flow” to those colleges with federal grants, according to the contingency plan. Colleges rely on federal funds to pay staff members who run programs for disadvantaged students seeking to enter and stay in college.

The furlough of Education Department staff members involved in making grants could also lead to delays in the awarding of grants to colleges later in the year.

In the event of a shutdown, the department will furlough more than 90 percent of its employees immediately, according to the contingency plan.

If the closure drags on for a week or more, up to 6 percent of the agency’s 4,225 employees will be called back to perform “essential” functions, such as providing payments to grantees and administering student aid.

Research Funds

A shutdown would close most operations at the National Institutes of Health, the largest supplier of federal money for basic research at American colleges and universities. Research on the NIH campus, in Bethesda, Md., would be halted, and no new patients would be accepted into the center’s medical trials.

But the effect of an NIH shutdown on universities should be minimal because the agency just completed one of its three yearly cycles of grant awards to outside researchers.

Grant applications for the next round are due on October 5, with awards expected to be made in December or January. That means agency officials should have time to catch up if the government shutdown isn’t prolonged, said Carrie D. Wolinetz, president of United for Medical Research, an advocacy coalition representing universities and other research organizations.

ADVERTISEMENT

The NIH’s deputy director for extramural research, Sally J. Rockey, sent out a notice last week warning that some grant recipients might have trouble getting access to their money in the event of a shutdown. But such instances should be relatively rare, involving grants having unusual conditions or those affected by some kind of glitch, Ms. Wolinetz said. “That’s going to be sort of a bad-luck situation,” she said.

Archives and Museums

Aside from the many federal employees who would be affected if the government closed its doors, researchers who depend on government-run archives, libraries, and museums would face disruptions in their work as well.

The Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Archives and Records Administration would close, making some of the country’s richest archival, cultural, and scientific collections inaccessible to researchers until Washington reopened for business.

A handful of exceptions might be made for researchers who have “highly time-sensitive” experiments under way or who must provide “ongoing care for research specimens,” according to Becky Haberacker, a Smithsonian spokeswoman. For the most part, though, “people would not be allowed to come in and access those collections” during a shutdown.

ADVERTISEMENT

The National Archives and Records Administration serves thousands of professional and amateur scholars a year. So far this year, about 11,000 registered researchers have made more than 64,400 visits to Archives I, the agency’s main building, on the Mall in Washington, and to the repository known as Archives II, located in College Park, Md. Last year the two facilities received almost 75,000 visits from close to 15,000 researchers.

The archives and records agency will continue to process some military records, including those needed for military burials, at its facility in St. Louis, said David S. Ferriero, the archivist of the United States. The agency’s Web sites will be up, according to the archivist, but “there will be nobody on the other end” to maintain them.

The Web sites of the National Endowment for the Humanities will also stay up but will not be updated, according to the agency’s contingency plan. Grants.gov, the online portal through which people search for and apply for federal grants, including NEH grants, will continue to operate but will have a reduced support staff, according to a notice on the Grants.gov blog.

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
Law & Policy Political Influence & Activism
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
About the Author
Kelly Field
Kelly Field joined The Chronicle of Higher Education in 2004 and covered federal higher-education policy. She continues to write for The Chronicle on a freelance basis.
Paul Basken Bio
About the Author
Paul Basken
Paul Basken was a government policy and science reporter with The Chronicle of Higher Education, where he won an annual National Press Club award for exclusives.
About the Author
Jennifer Howard
Jennifer Howard, who began writing for The Chronicle in 2005, covered publishing, scholarly communication, libraries, archives, digital humanities, humanities research, and technology.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Joan Wong for The Chronicle
Productivity Measures
A 4/4 Teaching Load Becomes Law at Most of Wisconsin’s Public Universities
Illustration showing a letter from the South Carolina Secretary of State over a photo of the Bob Jones University campus.
Missing Files
Apparent Paperwork Error Threatens Bob Jones U.'s Legal Standing in South Carolina
Pro-Palestinian student protesters demonstrate outside Barnard College in New York on February 27, 2025, the morning after pro-Palestinian student protesters stormed a Barnard College building to protest the expulsion last month of two students who interrupted a university class on Israel. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Campus Activism
A College Vows to Stop Engaging With Some Student Activists to Settle a Lawsuit Brought by Jewish Students
LeeNIHGhosting-0709
Stuck in limbo
The Scientists Who Got Ghosted by the NIH

From The Review

Vector illustration of a suited man with a pair of scissors for a tie and an American flag button on his lapel.
The Review | Opinion
A Damaging Endowment Tax Crosses the Finish Line
By Phillip Levine
University of Virginia President Jim Ryan keeps his emotions in check during a news conference, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 in Charlottesville. Va. Authorities say three people have been killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at the University of Virginia and a student is in custody. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The Review | Opinion
Jim Ryan’s Resignation Is a Warning
By Robert Zaretsky
Photo-based illustration depicting a close-up image of a mouth of a young woman with the letter A over the lips and grades in the background
The Review | Opinion
When Students Want You to Change Their Grades
By James K. Beggan

Upcoming Events

07-31-Turbulent-Workday_assets v2_Plain.png
Keeping Your Institution Moving Forward in Turbulent Times
Ascendium_Housing_Plain.png
What It Really Takes to Serve Students’ Basic Needs: Housing
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin