Before the March 1 deadline triggered “sequestration,” both President Obama and congressional leaders warned of apocalyptic disruptions to our national agenda should the cuts actually take place.
Of course, once it became clear that our divided federal government was not going to avert what everyone had already agreed would be reckless and draconian across-the-board defunding of many federal programs, the dire warnings emanating from the Capitol became more muted and less incendiary. It’s good theater to try and scare people about a potential crisis in order to bluff them into deterring it, but bad politics not to try and ease their concerns once the crisis has rolled on in.
That being said, now that sequestration has become the law of the land, it is more important than ever to try and separate both the hyperbole before the event and its minimizing afterward, from the actual effects that the sequester of federal funds will have on the real lives of real Americans.
And even though Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, has backtracked nimbly by asserting that, “I don’t think anyone quite understands how the sequester is really going to work,” one certainly can make some prudent predictions of its effects based on the actual dollar amount reductions to specific government programs.
Higher Education Will Sustain Significant Damage
For colleges, college students, and those planning to go to college, there are three major areas where the impact of sequestration is most likely to be felt: funding for university research, money for student aid, and support for college-preparatory programs. Under sequestration, all programs in these areas will experience funding reductions of approximately 5.1 percent.
In the area of research, it is estimated that federal spending on scientific research will be cut by more than $12 billion in 2013 and by another $95 billion by 2022. Organizations like the National Institutes of Health (cut by $1.5 billion) and the National Science Foundation (cut by $286 million) will be making fewer research-grant awards, which could potentially result in the loss of thousands of jobs for university scientists and their student assistants.
