The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

I'm travelling for my internship this summer and I know that SMART doesn't provide funding. My SF is willing to provide funding, but is having a hard time finding a way to allocate me the funds because I'm not a contractor or employee. We've asked SMART but have gotten no response. Currently I'm re...

no one has contacted me about needing to get my fingerprints done.... is this something I should be worried about right now When SMART handled all the checks a few years ago, they didn't start until early September. Now that it is the SF's initiating them, they don't need so much lead time because ...

Is there a specific form or card we need to use when submitting finger prints? Can I just go to a police department or livescan location and them process my finger prints for me? How many cards does OPM require that we submit? Wow, they must be starting the process early this year, two years ago we...

Do you all pay the payments quarterly or all in one lump sum? I have friends who do theirs as one big payment at the end of the year, but I know that SMART says we should be paying estimated payments quarterly. Are there different ways to do it? Which way is better (in your opinion)? Because SMART ...

So... a few things to clear up here: 1) Retention scholars have the same service commitment at recruitment scholars. 1:1 2) You do NOT retain you current salary. How it works is you can continue working for the SF (where you already work) where you get paid for the hours you work + you get the stip...

Question to this - My letter is addressed to a specific person at my school. Are you guys just sending it to that specific person??? In the past we've been told to send it to our school's Bursar's office. For me, this year it was addressed to my school's veteran benefits coordinator. I emailed the ...

The internship report is due 2 weeks after the last day of your internship. The annual report is due every June 1st. If you are just starting the award, these will not be relevant to you until next summer. You won;t have your first internship until next summer, so you will file the report for that t...

Hello all, I am a 2017 Smart cohort (computer Engineering/science), and I am still a freshman. At the moment I will need to do 18 credits per semester in order to graduate at the time stated as my graduation date by SMART. I am quickly realizing that I will not be able to take that many credits eve...

kbl2017 wrote:

Guest wrote:

PhDsmart wrote:So if our scholarship starts for fall 2017 (August) when is our first payment? August or September?

August

Estimated August 18th?

Unless we are told there is a delay by SMART (unlikely), that is when I would expect it.

Hi everyone. Is there anyone on here who started off as a Recruitment applicant, worked their service commitment, then applied as a Retention applicant with their SF and went back to school? My award is supposed to last for the completion of my B.S./M.S., and I was considering going back to school ...

Has anyone received a sponsor letter from SMART about tuition. I was told they would send them out in late July, but I still haven't received anything. I haven't yet. In the past we've always been given them by mid- to late- July. I am assuming that since award notifications went out later this yea...

Also, just to note, after you do start SMART and the GPA matters. A lot of schools will let you delete a limited number of failing grades from your transcript. As long as that deleted grade doesn't drop you below the full-time student line for that semester, it would be a good emergency maneuver.

How did you guys cover that your first semester before SMART has paid out any stipend? I'm going straight from undergrad so I don't really have any savings that could cover an entire semester of housing. I think that I would barely have enough with the first August payment. (no credit cards since I...

How have people delt with a housing payment on their e-bill? My housing/semesters tuition are wrapped up in the same payment system - as I would assume most on campus people's housing is. I paid whatever SMART was not going to cover. My first year I actually talked with my financial aid office and ...

I am trying to do this as well. I want to get a dual degree and have already talked to necessary people on my base including my mentor and branch head and have their support. Is it pretty likely to be accepted for the second degree? Also, do you have to apply as a follow-on award or can you just re...