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Shutdown Impact Is Minimal At Fredonia

FREDONIA — While President Donald Trump and Congress have reached a deal that will cease the shutdown for three weeks, the New York state government took precautionary steps to protect SUNY and CUNY students that may have been impacted. Earlier in the week, Jamestown Community officials stated there was no impact on students, but SUNY Fredonia officials said while it was minimal, there was an impact.

The SUNY and CUNY systems were given guidance on how to provide impacted students support, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday.

In an official news release, the governor said students who’s financial aid or money for tuition has been impacted by the shutdown will given a reprieve. Payments for tuition in the SUNY and CUNY systems will be postponed for impacted students.

Lisa Eichenburg associate director of Marketing and Communications at SUNY Fredonia, said one family had contacted the Students Accounts Office a few weeks ago. The impacted family was given a 30-day extension for tuition payments without any subsequent late fees.

“Our Financial Aid office reports that the impact on federal aid has been minimal,” Eichenburg told The Post-Journal.

One area of impact is to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Eichenburg said FAFSA data collection has been affected when it is needed to be matched with other federal databases. Those circumstances include confirmation for selective service, eligible non-citizenship and income verification. Efforts to circumvent these confirmations are being made, Eichengburg said.

“In these cases, efforts are being made to manually verify data,” she said.

Additionally, Eichenburg said issues with tax transcripts through the Internal Revenue Service Data Retrieval process attached to the FAFSA application were impacted due the shutdown. Now, personal taxes are being allowed for verification for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years. Accepted personal taxes for verification include signed versions from 2016 and 2017.

For those that are eligible for the postponement, late fees or penalties that are normally associated with late payments will be be waived. The action considers federal employees, dependents of federal employees and students dependent on federal loans that have been delayed to be eligible.

Kirk Young, vice president of Enrollment Management and Institutional Advancement at Jamestown Community College, said no students have been impacted in terms of financial aid and federal loans.

“As the federal shutdown continues to devastate the hardworking men and women of this country, New York’s students are among those hit hardest by Washington’s inaction,” Cuomo said in a news release. “We will not stand idly by as the federal administration undermines students’ ability to achieve a higher education, and today’s action will help ensure furloughed federal workers and their families get the support they need during this precarious time.”

The release stated SUNY and CUNY leadership will guide campuses throughout the state on how to provide assistance to impacted families.

The shutdown is in its second month, making it the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history. The continued shutdown was prompted by budget disputes over funding for the construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. An estimated 800,000 federal workers were expected to miss a second paycheck if the shutdown continued.

Two proposals were being considered. One proposal sports $5.7 billion to support construction of the wall that is backed by President Donald Trump. The other proposal would fund government agencies through Feb. 8. without any funding for a border wall.

The legislation Trump announced that he will sign will open the government until Feb. 15. The legislation announced Friday will include backpay for those 800,000 federal workers.

Disputes over the government shutdown even prompted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to block Trump’s State of Union address until a budget was passed to fund the government.

“While Trump puts people’s lives at risk and the longest federal shutdown in U.S. history continues, we are stepping up to help New Yorkers,” Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul said in the news release Wednesday. “By postponing payments for tuition and other expenses, students can still receive the education they deserve and families who are impacted by the shutdown can get the assistance they need as they face this hardship.”

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