With less than two weeks remaining in the lame-duck session and none of the spending bills complete, Congress is considering financing the government at fiscal 2010 levels through the end of next September. It it does, the National Institutes of Health won't get the $1-billion increase that appropriators recommended last summer, and the maximum Pell Grant award could be slashed by as much as 15 percent. Sara Hebel and Kelly Field discuss what flat financing would mean for students and colleges.