Correction 1/26/19: The government was re-opened on a temporary basis yesterday, Jan. 25. As of today, the government is expected to remain open through Feb. 15, 2019.

The partial-government shutdown has been in effect for over a month. Trump made an offer to house democrats on Saturday which included three years of temporary protection for about 700,000 young undocumented immigrants by restoring the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and Temporary Protected Status protections in return for $5.7 billion dollars to build a border wall. During the address, Trump referred to his offer as, “a common sense compromise that both parties should embrace.” According to an article from the Washington Examiner, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, having been informed of the offer beforehand, shot it down before Trump made the address.

In Pelosi’s official response to Trump’s announcement, she called Trump’s plan a,“compilation of several previously rejected initiatives, each of which is unacceptable and in total, do not represent a good faith effort to restore certainty to people’s lives” in her official statement. Pelosi went on to say that democrats will be passing a six-bill package next week agreed to by the house and senate to reopen the government. According to Forbes Magazine, if the partial shutdown is prolonged into tax season, it may affect CWU students who are attempting to apply for or re-certifying for income-driven student loans.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury is one the departments directly affected by the shutdown, and as a result, the majority of the Internal Revenue Service’s workforce has been furloughed. This may cause a delay in the processing and distribution of federal tax returns, the transcripts of which are required for financial aid applications. For students who have already filed for or are currently receiving federal student loans, their service should be unaffected. According to Forbes, the federal loan system relies on private contractors to handle the day-to-day operations like billing, correspon- dence, and application processing.

The shutdown may affect CWU’s faculty and undergraduate research programs as well. According to an article from Education Votes, public university research programs are reliant on data and grant funding from federal agencies that are currently affected by the shutdown like NASA, NOAA and the National Science Foundation.