University of Iowa preparing for long-term government shutdown

By Vanessa Miller, The Gazette

Should Washington legislators continue to disagree on a deal to reopen the shuttered government and raise the debt limit, the University of Iowa will be ready.

Graduate student researchers Bao Vu (right) and Chris Stach examine protein gels in a microbiology lab at the University of Iowa’s Bowen Science building on Thursday, October, 3, 2013 in Iowa City, Iowa. (Adam Wesley/The Gazette)

UI officials have created an emergency short-term loan plan for students expecting government stipend checks on Nov. 1, in case the impasse in Washington, D.C., persists. Many of the affected students are veterans, and officials said keeping them in class and financially afloat is a top priority.

“We recognize that our veteran students depend on these stipends to help pay for housing and food for themselves and their families while they are attending Iowa,” said Joseph Brennan, vice president for UI strategic communication.

The government shutdown, which began Oct. 1 when Congress missed the deadline for funding it, so far has had a minimal effect on UI students, staff and faculty members, according to Brennan.

But if a continued impasse keeps non-essential government workers and services unavailable into November, UI student veterans, researchers and some patients and providers at the UI Hospitals and Clinics could take a hit, Brennan said. Federal payments to the UI for student aid, research projects, FEMA grants and health care-related costs could be delayed.

The UI can’t bridge the federal funding gap in all those areas, Brennan said, but it will do what it can to keep students financially stable and maintain support for UIHC providers and patients.

Mark Warner, UI assistant provost and director of financial aid, said as many as 530 student veterans attend the university and are expecting to see a government stipend for living expenses on Nov. 1.

That stipend is as high as $1,475 for many of those students, and Warner said the UI will offer them a loan should the government fail to fulfill its commitment.

“The staff has worked out a plan so that these veterans would be held harmless from an ongoing shutdown,” Warner said.

The UI’s plan is to transfer the amount the veteran students otherwise would receive from the government into their university accounts on Nov. 1. The expectation, Warner said, is that the government would eventually reopen and pay those students what they’re due.

The students then would be responsible for paying back the short-term loan to the UI, according to Warner.

“No interest would be charged to the student,” he said. “The idea is that they would get the money they are due from the government, and they would be able to pay us back.”

Warner said the students could choose to pass up the loan opportunity or take part of it.

“If they don’t want this loan, they don’t have to take it,” he said. “We just want to hold them harmless from the shutdown.”

Read the full story by Vanessa Miller of the Gazette.