The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

You can submit a Service Agreement Amendment Request (SAAR). They may decide to grant your request, or they may choose to decline. If you cannot finish in time, and they decline your request for an extension, they may declare you in noncompliance and send you a debt notice for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Or they may direct you to submit another SAAR requesting a LOA, where you pay your own tuition and they stop stipend payments, but let you finish your degree before moving onto phase 2.

Any number of things can happen, and none of us can tell you what the SMART program will be doing in 4 years, because it won't necessarily be what they're doing now. (5 years ago there wasn't even a debt-collection process in place!)

PhD degrees funded through the SMART program are very high risk, since it's very difficult to predict how long you'll be in the program. I suspect 5-7 years or longer is more common than 4. The NDSEG fellowship is a far better deal, so that's definitely worth considering as an alternative. Funding from graduate teaching assistantship or research assistantship positions are less lucrative but much lower risk than a SMART fellowship.

thatmicrobiologist wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 04, 2022 2:36 pm

I hope this reaches some past recipients of the award, as I need some advice.

I received the DOD scholarship for a PhD program so currently that guarantees me funding for 4 years, but what if I take longer to complete my degree? Like 5-6 years? Will they continue to fund me?

Also, what should I do if it's in my application that I would attend one university but I actually will be attending a different one that is not listed on my application?

Definitely submit SAAR. May I ask which SF this is for?

There is (or used to be?) a 5 year max. There have been phd scholars that have needed more time to finish, only to get dismissed and required to pay back the years of scholarship + stipend. Check out the debtors discord for more accurate information on the individual cases, as I didn’t personally experience that.

I did however switch schools after awarded. It was after I had accepted the scholarship but before the site visit. One grad program had my specialization, other didn’t. All I had to do was submit an SAAR, and they agreed.

Submitting a SAAR probably answers both of your questions.

I hope this reaches some past recipients of the award, as I need some advice.

I received the DOD scholarship for a PhD program so currently that guarantees me funding for 4 years, but what if I take longer to complete my degree? Like 5-6 years? Will they continue to fund me?

Also, what should I do if it's in my application that I would attend one university but I actually will be attending a different one that is not listed on my application?