BUTLER TWP — The partial federal government shutdown hasn't affected Butler County Community College yet, but it will if the U.S. Department of Education doesn't process student financial aid applications by the end of the semester.

BC3 officials briefly discussed the effects of the shutdown after trustee Carmine Scotece asked about it during the board meeting Wednesday.

The education department currently is not staffed during the shutdown, but eventually it will be required to process financial aid applications, said James Hrabosky, BC3 vice president for administration and finance.

The college will have to devise a plan to address the lack of student aid if the department doesn't process the applications by the spring, he said.

BC3 uses reserve funds to cover tuition costs until the department releases student loans and grants, which reimburse the institution, Nicholas Neupauer, BC3 president, said after the meeting.

“We have reserves that can help us with this,” Neupauer said.

Hrabosky said the college has never developed a plan to cover tuition costs in the event of a government shutdown, but it might have to if grant money is not released by the end of April, when the semester ends, or early May, when final exams are held.

“I'd be concerned if it went past the end of April or early May,” Hrabosky said.

“It's a circumstance we haven't dealt with before,” Neupauer said.

Students obtain $6 million a year — $3 million each semester — in federal Pell grants, Hrabosky said.

The partial shutdown began Dec. 22 resulting from Congress refusing to provide President Donald Trump with the $5 billion he requested for construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.