A K LEO T H E
MONDAY, OCT. 7 to TUESDAY, OCT. 8, 2013 VOLUME 109 ISSUE 17
Serving the students of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
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UNIVERSITY MAY FEEL EFFECTS OF GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN NOELLE F UJII News Editor The government shutdown on Oct. 1 will affect students the same way it affects all the people of the state, at least in the short term, according to Vice Chancellor for Students Francisco Hernandez. “If the shutdown continues into the months of November and December, students may be affected because of the lack of government services to process some fi nancial aid requests for students entering UH Mānoa in the spring semester,” Hernandez said. At 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1, the federal government partially shut down after Congress failed to enact spending legislation with the start of the government’s new fiscal year, according to an article in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
U N I V E R S I T Y AC T I V I T I E S The FBI has had to cancel its booth that was supposed to be at Campus Center on Thursday due to the government shutdown. “The Mānoa Career Center partners with various federal agencies to share about career and internship opportunities through on campus outreach, information sessions, and job/ internship posting,” said Wendy Sora, interim director for the Mānoa Career Center. “We are now seeing some federal employers who are unable to be on campus and are not as active with their current job and internship offerings.”
FINANCIAL AID AND R E S E A RC H G R A N T S The shutdown will not disrupt the awarding of student aid or the services of student fi nancial aid, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s contingency plan.
More than 14 million students receive student aid, in the form of grants and loans, at more than 6,600 schools through Pell Grant and Direct Student Loan programs, which could continue as normal as a result of multi-year appropriations, according to the plan.
A delay in department obligations and payments beyond one week due to the government shutdown could “severely curtail the cash fl ow to school districts, colleges and universities, and vocational rehabilitation agencies that depend on the Department’s
It has potential to have real damage to us if it lasts for a long time. - Alexander Shor, Associate Dean for Research SOEST
According to Jodie Kuba, Director for Financial Aid Services at the UHM, the office is currently doing business as usual and all federal aid funding to students is occurring as normal, until the office hears differently from Federal Student Aid. If anything changes, notifications will be sent out to students who will be affected.
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funds to support their services,” according to the plan. Associate Dean for Research in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology Alexander Shor said as long as the shutdown is fairly short, there shouldn’t be much of an impact. “The reason is that most of the work we do is federal grants, and once we have the funds, we can use them as we need to,” Shor said. “The government doesn’t have to give us permission once we’ve received them.” If the shutdown continues for a couple of weeks, it will prevent grants from coming in. “It has potential to have real damage to us if it lasts for a long time,” Shor said. Brian Taylor, UH Mānoa Interim Vice Chancellor for Research, said the awarding of new federal research grants and contracts may be delayed, depending on the length of the shutdown. “However, nearly all support for current students from research awards should be already in hand at UH, and these funds may continue to (be) expended during the shutdown,” Taylor said.
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T H E S H U T D OW N Associated Students of the University of Hawai'i President Richard Mizusawa said his initial reaction is that he is happy the shutdown won’t affect students directly and cause a negative impact on their education. “Having fi nancial aid continuing to run and research awards still in place gives me confi dence that even though we are going through this government shutdown that we as students can continue to do what we do here while staying strong that our federal government will do what they need to do what is best for our country,” Mizusawa said. John Mizuno, Vice Speaker for the state House of Representatives, said the shutdown will hurt the system if it continues. “The longer it goes on, the more it’s going to hurt the, not only the students, but the entire UH system,” Mizuno said. “It’s unfortunate.” According to Mizuno, students can continue to contact their U.S. Senators, Congressmen and Congresswomen. He said many of them have Facebook accounts that they can be reached through. “The point is many students will have the ability to contact their senators and their people in Congress and say, ‘Hey, you know, this is really affecting my education, and I don’t think you want to do this. Can you help?’” Mizuno said. According to Mizuno, lawmakers are seeking a solution. “I think we just need to address this as soon as we can.” Mizuno said. “So it will get worse, but again, we’re very hopeful that a resolution will come up soon.” Sports Editor Joey Ramirez contributed to this article.