The U.S. Congress officially ended the 15-day government shutdown last Wednesday night, by 81 votes to 18 votes in the Senate and 285 votes to 144 votes in the House. Over the course of the shutdown, government workers were furloughed, points of national interest were closed, and any piece of legislation came to a screeching halt.

“In essence, the two groups, the Republicans and the Democrats, can’t get any agreement going and can’t pass a budget which would take us for an entire year,” American Government teacher Tony Budetti said. “They just haven’t been able to get anything going, passing very few things in Congress over the past four years, and it’s a collaboration of both their faults.”

To many students, the effects of the shutdown may have seemed irrelevant and far away. However, the past government shutdown and any more potential shutdowns in the coming year could have an effect more local than anticipated.

“We are facing another potential government shutdown right after the beginning of the new year; another debt ceiling extravaganza as well,” Budetti said. “This is going to be a continual problem every couple of months, six months, whatever it is until they get together and learn how to pass a budget which they haven’t in four years.”

Anyone attempting to visit a government website during the shutdown for the purpose of obtaining research or statistics may have ran into more error screens than information; a few of them closed altogether.

On a larger scale, any future government shutdown could result in damaging budget cuts to education programs like Special Ed, the free/reduced lunch program, testing, and transportation.

“We could cut tons of federal programs to meet our obligations of a balanced budget. Anybody who goes to college could be affected. Any of the federal programs that run through this high school could be affected,” Budetti said. “All of those things are funded through federal grants. Mainly, we think of education as a local thing, but actually there’s a little bit of federal involved in it too. That’s a little more pervasive than we think.”

With another potential shutdown looming this January, high school students preparing for the jump to college may be headed for troubled waters. Without the presence of government, some federal student loans cannot be processed. Incoming college freshmen could be left waiting on federal funding for unknown amounts of time.