Week one of the government shutdown has come and gone and yet the urgency of the situation is not felt by some younger Americans. While Congress drags its feet and fails to agree on a budget, Americans sit waiting not-so-patiently in disappointment and disapproval for an end to the suspense. Many Americans who are directly affected by the sudden shutdown view Congress’s lack of decision-making as an insult to both them and their country. But many young adults do not seem to view the government shutdown as, “that big of a deal.”
When asked about the government shutdown, a majority of students at Temple University declined to comment, saying instead that they knew too little about the situation in D.C. even to answer a question about it, let alone to hold a conversation about the subject. This proved true for students of a variety of different majors and all levels of study. While this is obviously not true for every young adult or Temple University student, the number of students who claim to know close to nothing about the government shutdown is alarming.
A majority of those students who are uneducated about the shutdown claim that they did not even know the government HAD shut down until their professors brought it up in class a day or two later. Of these students, most revealed that they rarely follow the news but rather hear about current events from other friends or from their professors in class. A few mentioned that they mainly rely on Facebook.
Now, there is and always has been the stereotype that young adults simply do not care about politics. But the 2008 election seemed to prove this stereotype wrong. So many college students and young adults nationwide motivated each other to get involved with their government, either by voting or volunteering. So why is it five years later so many students are uneducated about the government shutdown?
It could be that the sentiments of motivation for change that inspired so many young adults has long since evaporated, leaving many young Americans accepting of the current state of the country. Another explanation could be simply that because the last shutdown was seventeen years ago, many students were not old enough to remember the severity of the situation. But, most likely, it is because the government shutdown has not really affected college students.
Because the funding for this semester and next semester has already been allocated, students may be right in not worrying about the shutdown. However, according to Forbes magazine, if the shutdown continues for months into the future, students may start to feel the burden.
This could be true for the students at Temple who receive loans. They could potentially run into trouble when trying to get those loans disbursed in the future. However, those Temple students who are currently receiving Pell Grants are more likely to be affected than those who receive loans. If the Department of Education does not have the cash to give to Temple University for those Pell Grants because of the shutdown, then students simply may not receive them. Students who participate in research studies will be the most directly affected if their funding comes from the government. They will be forced to halt their research until it reopens.
But for right now, and most likely for next semester, students may not feel the effects of the government shutdown. So if students are not being bothered by the shutdown, who is being affected?
Well, government workers are most directly affected at this point. According to CNN, approximately 800,000 government employees have been sent home since the shutdown began Tuesday, October 1. Those who were deemed not absolutely necessary were forced to pack up and leave without compensation or further notice of when they would be back to work again. Many of those who did stay are also not receiving pay.
On Saturday, however, Congress made some small steps toward progress when they decided that those who had temporarily lost their jobs would be paid for the lost time when the government re-opens. There is still no word on when that will be, unfortunately.
Things will pretty much remain stable in the beginning of this shutdown. Americans will still receive their mail, students who plan to study abroad can still get passports, and government aid programs will be distributed. But as with the student aid, things will start to get a little shaky the longer this shutdown lasts.
While the United States’ military remains hard at work with pay, many active duty military students are without money for their schooling, according to Forbes.
The government shutdown can potentially affect the way foreign countries perceive the United States as a developed and dominating nation. Many foreign investors may be hesitant to invest in the U.S. because the shutdown makes the country seem like a chaotic mess rather than a stable investment.
According to CNN, a government shutdown that lasts about three more weeks could cost the United States about $55 billion. Without a hint or clue as to when this could all be over, maybe students should start to pay attention because the shutdown may eventually affect them.