{"id":783,"date":"2025-10-21T15:37:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T20:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/?p=783"},"modified":"2025-10-21T15:37:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T20:37:59","slug":"what-a-government-shutdown-means-for-your-fafsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/2025\/10\/21\/what-a-government-shutdown-means-for-your-fafsa\/","title":{"rendered":"What a Government Shutdown Means for Your FAFSA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>You\u2019ve probably heard people talking about the government \u201cshutting down.\u201d Here is what it actually means for students trying to pay for college using the FAFSA<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You Can Still Fill Out the FAFSA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even during a government shutdown, the<a href=\"https:\/\/studentaid.gov\/\"> FAFSA website<\/a> usually stays open. It\u2019s considered an essential service, so you can still go online, fill it out, and submit it like normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>There <em>Might<\/em> Be Some Delays<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s where a shutdown could make things a little slower. Some Department of Education employees might temporarily not work or get paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If that happens, FAFSA applications could take longer to process. And if the IRS is also affected, the Data Retrieval Tool \u2014 the part that helps pull in your tax info automatically \u2014 might not work right away. That could mean more waiting or having to enter info manually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Your Aid Money Should Still Come<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re already getting financial aid for college your money should still arrive. Schools can still give out funds that were already approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But if the shutdown lasts a long time, it might slow down the process for new payments or reimbursements. So, while most students won\u2019t notice much at first, a really long shutdown could eventually cause delays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Some Verifications Could Be Slower<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FAFSA checks certain things with other government systems \u2014 like tax info from the IRS or your Selective Service registration (for guys). If those systems are short-staffed, those checks could take longer than usual. Which will again take more time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What You Can Do<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are a few ways to stay on top of things during this shutdown:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Submit your FAFSA early. The earlier you apply, the better your chances of avoiding delays.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check your email. If your school or FAFSA needs more info, respond fast so nothing holds up your aid.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Stay updated. Your school\u2019s financial aid office will share any major updates if the shutdown starts causing problems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/files\/2025\/10\/image-2.jpeg\" alt=\"This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-2.jpeg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019ve probably heard people talking about the government \u201cshutting down.\u201d Here is what it actually means for students trying to pay for college using the FAFSA You Can Still Fill Out the FAFSA Even during a government shutdown, the FAFSA website usually stays open. It\u2019s considered an essential service, so you can still go online, &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/2025\/10\/21\/what-a-government-shutdown-means-for-your-fafsa\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;What a Government Shutdown Means for Your FAFSA&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8314,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8314"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":789,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783\/revisions\/789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}