The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Oh man. I feel bad for all of you. I was 65K with a BS in 2010. I was on the AcqDemo payscale though.

When I got my job offer it was a GS-9, step one, rest of US, not eligible for any special pay schedules. It’s like $53k, I’m in the math job series 1500s. SMART paid for my masters & my SF is in the middle of nowhere haha.

My SF Starts a bachelors degree holder w/ at least a 2.95 GPA at GS-7 Step 10 with a 16% "Rest of US" locality adjustment. Ends up being like $57k in 2021, but i believe there is a little extra added on top for "special rates" for engineers.

Follow the link below, and fill in the 3 drop down choices for Occupation, Location, and Agency. A pay table should pop up with a higher pay for GS 7-11 which is intended to make your pay closer to market rate to aid in the hiring of young engineers and scientists. In my experience, my hiring manager and personnel office were not aware that this existed so you will likely have to bring it to their attention.

https://apps.opm.gov/specialrates/search.aspx

So, I got my intent to hire and the quoted starting pay was $43,683, which is a GS-07 step-1 with rest of locality pay. This is not a special rate. I am confused because my previous SF quoted my starting pay as over $48k in 2018 and my previous SF was in a MUCH cheaper area to live (comparable house cost about half). This SF is in a very expensive area. Any insight?

Make sure also to include the locality pay adjustment. With few exceptions, you should be able to find the exact pay table.

Did you check that your facility uses the GS scale? I do not know the Bachelors pay on GS. I started at 61000, that is with locality pay of over 20%. This is no experience. I am on labdemo pay scale though.

Rumor has it that depending on qualifications, school, grades and summer internships, some people have had offers far beyond step 1.

The tables are not FOUO, you can find them on the OPM website, and you can specifically search for "Special Pay Tables." Then you can input your job, location, and agency and it will tell you what you will start at for GS 7-1. Then the negotiating is up to you.

It differs between sponsoring facilities. You could ask your contact at your sponsoring facility for the exact numbers.

The scales are FOUO so you won't find them online but your SF contact should tell you

Starting for an engineer with a Bachelor's is $48,488 for rest of the United States locality pay at GS-07 step 1. Engineers have a different pay scale for GS-07 and GS-09.

Can anyone post what the approximate actual starting pay is for someone on the GS scale? I know that we are supposed to start out as a GS-07 step 1 ( unless negotiated higher), but OPM.gov lists that at $37,301 , which seems extremely low. The GS-07 step 1 salary including the "rest of United States" locality pay is listed as $43,251, which I still think is low.
My old sponsoring facility sent out a PPT 2 years ago stating that electrical engineers with a BS at that facility (had the "rest of United State" locality pay, like my new facility) started at $47,264, which is different from the OPM.gov listing. I graduate at the end of this semester, and the area that I am going to is a pretty expensive area, even though it doesn't have a special locality pay (way more expensive area than my old SF). I guess I'm just trying to work out what I can expect so that I can start figuring out my living situation.

Has anyone been hired recently? Can you post your starting pay or any insight on what I should expect?

Thank you!