Education advocates in Maine say they are concerned about how 1,300 layoffs at the Federal Department of Education will affect students and families here.
Jason Judd, Executive Director at Educate Maine, said slower processing of federal student aid applications could have a chilling affect.
"If there's a slowdown In processing time based on shortage of staff, and those letters come in late. More families may choose to not send their student on to higher education," Judd said.
Judd said these staff reductions could place more demands on an already overextended local education system.
"What it does is it puts a lot more work on all of our local educators and leaders who are already working extremely hard to support students and families, and now they're trying to plan for every scenario possible," Judd said.
Judd said many schools in Maine rely on the federal Department of Education for guidance and any disruption to federal operations will affect students across the state.
