Phase 2 Official Letter

General Discussion for SMART Scholarship Recipients
cy96448

Phase 2 Official Letter

Post by cy96448 »

Hey guys.

How long did it take for SMART to issue you your Phase 2 letter? or Did you even receive it?

This document is supposed to include information that confirms the scholar has completed all phase 1 requirements and documents the start and end date of the service commitment.

For more detail,this document is outlined in section 14.2 of the 2019 SMART Scholar Handbook.

Guest1234

Re: Phase 2 Official Letter

Post by Guest1234 »

cy96448 wrote:Hey guys.

How long did it take for SMART to issue you your Phase 2 letter? or Did you even receive it?

This document is supposed to include information that confirms the scholar has completed all phase 1 requirements and documents the start and end date of the service commitment.

For more detail,this document is outlined in section 14.2 of the 2019 SMART Scholar Handbook.
I got my phase 2 letter over a year into serving my commitment. I'm almost a year past finishing my commitment and haven't received my phase 3 letter yet. SMART still sends me requests to fill out phase 2 reports even though I'm in phase 3...

kmae818

Re: Phase 2 Official Letter

Post by kmae818 »

I also have not received a Phase II letter. I have reached out a few times to SMART and they said they are "working on it". Also, I was in the 2016 cohort and the Handbook at the time said the length of service commitment "may not be less than the total period of pursuit of a degree that is covered by such financial assistance and may not be less than 1 year." I received the scholarship for one year, so according to the 2016 handbook I have completed my service commitment. However, the 2019 handbook now says "may not be less than 1.5 years". Since I have not received my Phase II letter, I do not have the actual date of when my service commitment is completed. Has anyone else experienced this or have any insight?

Phase2er

Re: Phase 2 Official Letter

Post by Phase2er »

@kmae818 Are you planning to leave the government in the next 6 months? If not, this probably isn't worth fighting with them about.

If you are, contiunally cite the 2016 handbook, which it sounds like you have a copy of. That's the agreement you signed, that's the agreement you should be held to.

In either case, I'd keep pestering them for that letter. Given that your service is over, I might even pester them for the phase 3 letter at this point.

kmae818

Re: Phase 2 Official Letter

Post by kmae818 »

Phase2er wrote:@kmae818 Are you planning to leave the government in the next 6 months? If not, this probably isn't worth fighting with them about.

If you are, contiunally cite the 2016 handbook, which it sounds like you have a copy of. That's the agreement you signed, that's the agreement you should be held to.

In either case, I'd keep pestering them for that letter. Given that your service is over, I might even pester them for the phase 3 letter at this point.
Thanks for your insight, I'll dig out the original forms signed just in case! To your point, I am thinking about leaving so I'm trying to figure out when I'm released. I've been dealing with SMART long enough to realize whats worth fighting them about which is why I haven't asked for the letter until now.

tomato2

Re: Phase 2 Official Letter

Post by tomato2 »

I got my Phase 2 letter two months after I started at my SF. It required several rounds of emailing back and forth between me and my liaison but I finally got it. So just keep engaging your liaison. It's a very simple document so it shouldn't take them long to generate it.

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