Any higher education students out there who think the whole Washington debate about raising the debt ceiling is just some hypothetical exercise that doesn’t affect you, think again.  If the debt ceiling isn’t raised, then we don’t know what the government will pay and what it won’t pay in August and September.  And Treasury isn’t dropping any clues as to what they’ll pay and what they won’t.  Your student financial aid, your  Pell grant or tuition grant or research grant, might be what doesn’t get paid.  Just because it’s approved now, doesn’t mean the government will actually pay it without a debt ceiling increase.

See:  http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/29/news/economy/debt_default_student_financial_aid/