by Extension » Tue Aug 07, 2018 8:37 am
Arbiter wrote:Does anyone know anything about if you finish your bachelors but get into a PhD program?
Will SMART likely allow you to do it if you give them time afterwards?
Does it increase the amount of time you have to give your SF (PhD usually will pay you - you're (SMART) not paying for education).
Does anyone know anything about this?
(1) You can apply for a follow-on award. SMART will pay for your PhD and your commitment will be increased in kind. (2) Alternatively if you want to get your PhD, but not have SMART fund it you could apply for a Leave of Absence, which would not increase your commitment, but would not get you any funding during that time. I am not sure you are supposed to use a LoA for that reason though.
Be careful with either of these approaches. SMART will only fund 5 years in row and there is also a limit to what you can take as a Leave of Absence (I think it is 2 years, but I do not know). A lot of scholars had trouble with PhDs. Due to circumstances outside of their control they did not finish their thesis within these limits so SMART dismissed them and triggered full payback.
If I were you, I would graduate with your Bachelor's, serve your commitment, and begin taking graduate classes at night during the commitment (you should be able to get them paid for through your SF). Then when your commitment is served go fulltime to finish up.
[quote="Arbiter"]Does anyone know anything about if you finish your bachelors but get into a PhD program?
Will SMART likely allow you to do it if you give them time afterwards?
Does it increase the amount of time you have to give your SF (PhD usually will pay you - you're (SMART) not paying for education).
Does anyone know anything about this?[/quote]
(1) You can apply for a follow-on award. SMART will pay for your PhD and your commitment will be increased in kind. (2) Alternatively if you want to get your PhD, but not have SMART fund it you could apply for a Leave of Absence, which would not increase your commitment, but would not get you any funding during that time. I am not sure you are supposed to use a LoA for that reason though.
Be careful with either of these approaches. SMART will only fund 5 years in row and there is also a limit to what you can take as a Leave of Absence (I think it is 2 years, but I do not know). A lot of scholars had trouble with PhDs. Due to circumstances outside of their control they did not finish their thesis within these limits so SMART dismissed them and triggered full payback.
If I were you, I would graduate with your Bachelor's, serve your commitment, and begin taking graduate classes at night during the commitment (you should be able to get them paid for through your SF). Then when your commitment is served go fulltime to finish up.