After just one day, the prolonging of the federal government shutdown has begun to affect public school and universities, as well as students and staff.

The U.S. Department of Education released a contingency plan on Sept. 27. As stated in the plan, “The Department would furlough over 90 percent of its total staff level for the first week of such a lapse.” The shutdown will also directly affect all students who rely on financial aide for tuition, and living fees while attending college. For students at public universities this means that Pell grants and direct federal loans will not be taken away because these loans and grants have already been approved by congress.  What could be affected is the length of time it takes for students to receive money due to lack of personnel to actively process the loans.

According to the Washington Post, more than 14 million students receive federal financial aide at over 6,600 schools nationwide.

There will be no updates on the ed.gov while employees are on furlough. The site will begin updating again once funds are back in order.

The contingency plan also states that if the shutdown continues for longer than a week, an average of six percent of all employees will be restored to, “conduct other excepted activities to prevent significant damage to the underlying activity.”

While the shutdown is active, the government plans to use the “$22 billion in advance appropriations for formula grants to States under Titles I and II of ESEA, IDEA Part B State Grants, and Career and Technical Education.” These funds can be used because they do not require excess congressional review or processing.

The government fears delaying these funds will “significantly damage state and local program operations” and therefore plan to follow through with employing staff through these funds.

Head Start is another program that is targeted for shutdown due to a lack of funding. Head Start is a federally funded program that promotes the enhancement of children ages zero-five who come from low-income families. Head Start focuses on several areas of development including language and literacy, cognition and emotional and social development, among several others.

According to USA Today, 20 of the 1,600 Head Start programs plan to shutdown because their grants will expire today. Most of these programs reside in Florida. Shutting down this many programs will affect close to 400 children, over 100 staff workers, as well as the families of the children.