The University of Wisconsin campus fell into “limbo” after the federal government shutdown, which lasted 16 days in October, five days shorter than the shutdown in 1996.

UW professors and researchers scrambled as their grants and partnerships with government-funded institutes, like the National Institutes of Health, were at a standstill while Congressional representatives attempted to sort out a deal.

“There are some assistant professors who are submitting grants for the first time, and I feel bad for them since they don’t know what’s going to happen and they just started their labs,” UW biochemistry professor Laura Kiessling said. “There are many of us, not myself personally, that have collaborators at the National Institutes of Health or the Department of Energy that are federal employees and can’t go to work.”

In light of uncertainty regarding federal research dollars, $142 million was left undocumented in an audit report from the UW System. UW spokesperson David Giroux said the funds were largely kept in case extra research dollars were needed for schools in the system.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., also paid a visit to campus after the shutdown to visit labs and address the lack of research dollars for universities.

Students planning on studying abroad in the spring also had less time to submit visas and necessary documents, similar to the 1996 shutdown where 20,000 to 30,000 visa applications went unprocessed everyday according to the U.S. Department of State.

However, student financial aid was largely unaffected due to earlier deadlines and 90 percent of financial aid being already submitted, Susan Fisher, UW financial aid director, said.