With Shutdown End in Sight, University Faces Minimal Impacts

The Senate voted 60-40 on a continuing resolution to reopen the government Nov. 9. Loyola administrators have been in contact with each other throughout the shutdown and believe there to be minimal impacts on the university and its students.

Eight Democratic Senators, including Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), voted yes on a bill which doesn’t include an extension on the Affordable Care Act. Without the extension of the Affordable Care Act insurance premiums are expected to double for millions of Americans. 

Durbin’s office didn’t respond to The Phoenix’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Provost Douglas Woods said he’s been in communication with all of Loyola’s deans throughout the shutdown. None expressed concerns about the shutdown in regards to impacts on Loyola or its students.

“The president asks regularly, ‘Are you seeing anything? Is there anything we need to worry about? Is this affecting anything we’re doing? What usually would happen?’ And the answer has been no,” Woods said. “But that would roll up to Phil, and he would reach out to his contacts in DC.”

Vice President for Civic Engagement and Government Affairs Philip Hale has been managing government affairs at the federal, state and local levels for Loyola for 25 years. In an interview with The Phoenix Oct. 27, Hale said his first concern was how long the shutdown would last. His first concern before, which “proved to be unfounded” was the implications the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) had for Loyola.

“When Congress passes a law like [OBBBA], the agencies, and certainly the U.S. Department of Education, have to take the new law and develop rules and regulations for how that law is going to be implemented — changes to loans, changes to Pell grants and so on,” Hale said. “The first concern was that that would get delayed, and it wasn’t. The Department of Education has gone forward with negotiated rulemaking where they’ve met with public entities, representatives from our associations and others.”

The ED finished the first set of rulemaking which deals with loans and will soon begin the next round which involves Pell grants, according to Hale. Nothing in the bill impacts the current academic year, only the next — 2026-2027.

The primary way the government funds Loyola is through financial aid — pell grants and work study, for which students meet eligibility through certain income thresholds. 

“There are always issues, for example with the Department of Education, is always working on FAFSA forms, so people haven’t been working on those for the last 30 days,” Woods said. 

Woods said there were concerns over whether research grant applications would be processed, though not anymore. Endowment tax also remains unimpacted.

When faculty members write research grant proposals, they outline the budget — the cost of “actually doing” the work detailed, according to Woods. The government pays for the work through direct costs. Indirect costs make up a percentage of the direct cost, and cover uses like heating, custodial staff and use of building space.

There was an initial push by the government to limit caps on indirect recovery caps, The Phoenix reported. Woods said nothing is concrete within the OBBBA in regards to the caps.

Beyond legislation, students have faced issues on the individual level with government employees not working.

“What has been a little harder, obviously, is if a student has questions about their loans and our financial aid office needs guidance from the Department of Education, then that guidance hasn’t been there because that person has been off because of the shutdown,” Hale said.

Federal workers are often placed on furlough — a temporary, unpaid leave due to lack of funding, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, There have been around 1.4 million federal employees who have missed a full paycheck due to the shutdown, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. 

Even when the government shuts down and as Congress attempts to work things out, a working group composed of representatives on both sides of the aisle — Republican and Democratic House members — meet to try to resolve differences so shutdowns can conclude. This didn’t happen this time, the biggest difference Hale noted as compared to previous government shutdowns.

Loyola students expressed their concerns about the Affordable Care Act hanging in the balance. 

 “A disruption to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act could limit access to essential health services for college students like mental health resources, ” third-year healthcare administration major Itzel Flores said. “For college students, balancing school and life is essential to well-being and success.”