How the Government Shutdown Hit the Camden Community
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Students on the Rutgers-Camden campus have felt high levels of frustration and stress over the government shutdown. For students and their families, the political standstill in Washington was not just a news story, but a direct threat to their finances, studies, and future stability.
In an interview, a sophomore student captured the mood with a mix of “frustration and anger,” noting the unfairness to federal workers “forced to find other ways to sustain themselves,” despite having secured government jobs. This frustration is tied to how the local impact of the Philadelphia-Camden metro area is home to an estimated 33,000 to 56,000 federal employees.
The student’s concern about federal employees being forced to find secondary work is entirely valid. When the government closes, thousands of local employees lose their paychecks, yet the cost of living does not take breaks. Essential staff at critical hubs like the Philadelphia International Airport, including TSA officers and air traffic controllers, are designated “excepted” and are required to work without pay. This situation not only creates immense personal strain for those employees but leads to the kind of operational disruptions the student noted.
As this student observed, “Some people just don’t work. They don’t go where they usually go, which slows everything down, and lines get longer, and people have to wait longer. We are seeing that a lot with the airports.”
This reduced activity goes beyond security lines. Local restaurants, coffee shops, and small businesses in Camden and Philadelphia that rely on the daily spending of federal employees. Local companies that depend on federal contracts face frozen payments and delayed funding, creating a ripple effect of financial instability across South Jersey’s corporate landscape.
For Rutgers-Camden students, the anxiety quickly translates into worries about their education and academic progress. The student expressed immediate concern that the shutdown might, “affect how much money I would get from financial aid, which, in the long term, might up my loans and all the other stuff I didn’t think I would have to worry about.” While core functions like the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) processing and the disbursement of Pell Grants and federal student loans generally continue, the student’s worry is well-rounded.
The Department of Education typically furloughs around 87% of its workforce during a shutdown. This staffing reduction means that while the automated systems keep running, any complicated issues will face significant delays. Additionally, The Office of Federal Student Aid closes customer service centers staffed by DOE employees, making it harder for students to resolve crucial financial issues.
Perhaps the most lasting consequence of the shutdown noted by the student is the damage to public trust in government. When asked about the long-term consequences of, the student simply replied, “I think it’s trust because who knows when it might happen again?”
As the political halt continues in Washington, students at Rutgers-Camden are left to manage the very real financial and emotional costs of a government shutdown.
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