The longest government shutdown in U.S. history is not only freezing pay for full-time federal employees — it’s also cutting off scholarship funds of approximately $6,000 for commissioned cadets in the University of Iowa’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, or ROTC, detachments. 

UI second-year student Ella Wertz, a member of the Army ROTC program, said cadets in the program are already feeling financial pressures from the halt in pay. She said since the start of the shutdown on Oct. 1, she and the other contracted cadets have missed out on approximately $6,000 each in ROTC scholarship money awarded per semester.

Wertz said the government shutdown has also temporarily disrupted the $420 monthly book stipends some cadets receive. 

“I was going to use the money for rent, groceries, and things like that because ROTC is basically a part-time job, so it’s hard to find time to really work,” she said. “I’m really just living off of my summer job money right now, which has been kind of difficult.”

Wertz said her tuition has been paid off, but many of her fellow cadets aren’t as lucky. 

“If, for some reason, the government is still shut down by the end of the semester, by that point, they’re going to have to find a different way to pay their tuition,” she said. 

Wertz said cadets can’t take a break from the program to catch up on their expenses. 

In order to continually receive their scholarship, which isn’t being awarded during the shutdown, cadets are still required to attend mandatory detachment events like morning workouts and professional officer training.

“It can be difficult,” she said. “I know a lot of people are struggling financially without having this scholarship money. I know a lot more people are picking up shifts at their jobs just to make ends meet.”

On Nov. 6, the Air Force and Army ROTC detachments hosted their annual military ball together, a formal event celebrating military tradition and camaraderie.

Wertz said it felt bizarre to see Air Force personnel not in uniform at the ball. 

The Air Force members were taking precautions to not violate federal regulations restricting official military representation and nonessential activities during the shutdown. Wertz said she was unsure why the Army ROTC detachment were still able to be in their uniforms.

“It was supposed to be a joint ball,” Wertz said. “We were all in our uniforms, and it was supposed to be this big thing. And because of the shutdown, obviously, the Air Force couldn’t be in their uniforms. Even though that might have seemed to only affect them, it also kind of affects us.”

Benjamin Szot, a financial coordinator for Iowa Veteran Education Transition and Support, a UI service providing general wellness and financial support to the UI’s U.S. military-connected community, said the shutdown’s financial implications are directly affecting the
organization’s clients.

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He said the Department of Defense’s federal tuition assistance, a benefit paying money directly to the school for students who are either on active duty or in reserves, is being temporarily canceled during the shutdown. 

Students who started classes in August will still receive assistance, but students who started shorter classes in October will face the funding cuts, Szot said. 

“We don’t have the ability to control the income of these funds because they’re funded by the federal government, so we have to be the ones who say, ‘Unfortunately, you won’t be receiving those funds.’ And that puts students in a tough situation,” he said. 

Szot said the program pays $250 per credit hour for students, and with over 100 students using the tuition assistance program, it ends up being a significant amount of funding that is cut off. 

Szot said veterans’ aid education programs such as the GI bill, a federal tuition assistance program for active duty service members and veterans, are also being temporarily cut off during the shutdown. 

He cited a survey run by the National Association of Veterans Program Administrators, an organization supporting administrators who help veterans navigate benefits, sent out to students in October.

The survey pulled in 747 responses nationwide, with 48 percent of respondents saying they had not received their Veterans Aid benefits.

“It’s a pretty alarming number when these are students who need this money to pay for tuition, rent, groceries,” Szot said. “Then a little further down in this survey, when we ask, ‘Has the government shutdown had any negative impact on your enrollment?’ 32
percent said ‘yes.’”

Jackie Schmillen, director of public affairs at the Iowa National Guard, is one of many civilian employees going to work without pay since Oct. 1.  

She said while the operations and pay of active duty National Guard members haven’t been affected, 700 Iowan federal technicians haven’t been paid since the shutdown. 

“We also are starting to see the effects with our part-time force,” she said. “The majority of them haven’t been able to go to drill or train because it is not deemed an accepted event. So even our part-time force is now going to be missing that little bump in their paycheck.”

Schmillen said many National Guard personnel were disappointed the shutdown has become the longest in history, barring staff from participating in nonessential military operations like the canceled Iowa vs. Oregon flyover. 

“We’re just frustrated at this point,” she said. “We’re just wanting to do our jobs and continue to do them. We will do what needs to be done to get the job done. We just want the government to be funded so that we can be at full speed.”