Retention scholars

General Discussion for SMART Scholarship Recipients
currentfed

Retention scholars

Post by currentfed »

I'm a retention awardee in the most recent batch - Cohort 2013. I've been told that my stipend money will be funneled through my SF, where it will be charged at the overhead rate - 1.5 times my hourly rate. That is, they will be skimming about 1/3 of it off the top to pay "overhead" costs. Has this been the experience of previous retention scholars?

I was hoping to take some leave without pay to really focus on school, but I probably can't do that if they only give me 2/3 of my stipend...

guest70
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Re: Retention scholars

Post by guest70 »

When you are a retention student your money is MIPRed to your SF from the SMART Program Office. The amount on the MIPR should be (yearly SMART stipend + 1000)*1.3. Make sure you are notified whenever the MIPR is sent and check the amount and expiration date to make sure it is correct. It has been my experience that the SMART Program Office does not send this money on time nor with the correct expiration dates.

The money from the MIPR is placed into a WBS in GFEBs. When your salary is paid, your hours are charged to this WBS in GFEBS. When your hours are charged, they are not charged at your hourly rate, but are charged at the GFEBS rate. Your GFEBS rate is an average rate for all the individuals at your DB level in your group, therefore it could be higher or lower than your actual rate. If it is higher, then the difference between the two rates goes into your cost center that your and everyone else's leave in your group leave is charged to. This composite GFEBS rate also probably includes overhead for your SF which is a set amount of money per hour for everyone.

The money on the MIPR is only allocated to pay your salary and your benefits, therefore using it for other people's leave by placing it in the cost center and the overhead charge is illegal. You will need to speak with your supervisor, as well as, some who handles these budgeting issues to get this straighten out, only your actual rate and your benefits should be charged to this WBS. The SMART Program Office can send a statement to your SF of how the pay should be distributed each month, but the amount you receive will need to be dealt with at your SF.

I have had this same problem this past year and am still working on getting it resolved. If you can you might become a recruitment candidate, unless you are working on other projects at work. It took the SMART Program Office 4 months to send the money this year, another month to set-up the WBS in GFEBS, and still working on getting the backpay from those 4 months. I was close to spending all my savings because of not being paid. The only thing the recruitment candidate will effect other than the benefits is that your service computation date will change. Good luck.

bclark

Re: Retention scholars

Post by bclark »

My Army installation is having problems using GFEBS to distribute my stipend. It sounds like you're saying GFEBS can setup a separate WBS to pay the employee out of that is a different rate than the current hourly pay?

My problem is I'm working part time want to get paid for the hours I work and separately get the MIPR amount distributed to me.

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