Washington — Higher education found itself trapped-recently between conflicting air masses — an icy blast from a howling winter and the hot air of a fractious Congress-White House debate.
The budget impasse between the Clinton White House and the Republican-controlled Congress left the higher education establishment in a lurch:
* 140,000 student loan applications for the current semester were unprocessed:
* More than $100 million in National Science Foundation funds earmarked for 1995-96 research projects remained unspent:
* $1 billion in National Institutes of Health grants have not been awarded: and
* With passport offices shut down visiting scholars are stranded without entry visas or other travel document services.
The impact amounts to a rude wake-up call for students, faculty and administrators, according to education observers.
