The federal government shutdown that looms ahead on Oct. 1 will not immediately affect higher education, but could eventually lead to cuts to financial aid programs and research funding.
Unless Congress can reach a compromise on a stopgap measure to keep government open, the federal government will shut down on the first day of October.  This would mean that all non-essential federal government operations would shut down. According to Inside Higher Ed, however, it’s not clear how this will affect higher education programs.