With the United States Government in one of the biggest deadlocks in 17 years, it has many students questioning how this recent shutdown will affect them and all of the federal programs that go on in Bucks.

“I don’t think it will affect me, but it will affect a lot of other people.” said Ali Kuklinski, communications major.”

Maybe it will not affect Kuklinski, but she may be in the dark on what impact a government shutdown might have.

“A prolonged shutdown will show its effects in colleges across the states,” said Kent Springfield, director of federal government relations at George Washington University.

“During a shutdown, national parks will be closed,” Springfield said. “Some government payments, like GI Bill benefits, may be stalled in a prolonged shutdown. And if you are a student who has a federal work study job at a federal agency, you will not be able to go into work.”

Springfield also said that some faculty grants may be affected as well. “Most grants will probably be unaffected by a shutdown. However, there are specific cases in which faculty members may need to halt their research. Typically, this will be because they are conducting that work at a federal research facility or because they need guidance from the agency to proceed in their work.”

On the bright side, students with federal financial aid should face limited problems with the shutdown.

“Anticipate that there will be limited impact to the federal student aid application (FAFSA) process, to the delivery of federal student aid, or to the federal student loan repayment functions,” according to Federal Student Aid.

There are students that are showing obvious frustration with the government shutdown, regardless of whether it affects them or not.

“People are stubborn and aren’t willing to see other sides,” Amy Lapsley, 20, nursing, said. “I don’t think it should have gotten to this point.”

But even with the obvious frustration, many seem to not understand what exactly caused the government to shut down in the first place.

In the Constitution, it says that Congress has the job of approving spending bills to fund the government. If Congress cannot agree on a bill by the end of their fiscal year on Sept. 30, then the government ‘shuts down’- or stops some of the programs that many government officials call “non-essential” jobs. This includes workers in federal museums, national parks, stock markets, and workers in the Food and Safety Administration.

The estimated amount of furloughed employees totals 800,000 to 1 million federal workers according to the American Federation of Government Employees.

The shutdown is expected to be prolonged, based on the fact that Republicans are adamant in their attempts to defund, or at the very least, chip away at the new Affordable Health Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

“The job loss is not fair, they (the politicians in Washington) were secure, so they did not care who else it would effect,” Lapsley said. “They weren’t seeing the other point of view.”

President Barack Obama claims that he will get the government back up and running as soon as possible.