The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

by **Guest** » Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:50 pm

Broke, do you mind me askng....

1. Do you mean you were getting other scholarships and student loans, so that your school was paying you the excess every semester? Or that they decided to count your monthly stipend as a scholarship?

2. Does the timimg of of your internship support payments coincide with your internship or are we all getting paid those days?

Thanks!

by **broke** » Fri Apr 13, 2012 8:44 pm

I asked about when we get the money and received this:
You should receive your internship support payments in 3 installments: 4/20/12, 5/18/12 and 6/15/12. They will be included with your monthly stipend payments.

Another thing to be carefull of:
My university just did an audit of my account and decided I was receiving more than the estimated cost of attendance so I had some of my student loans and other scholarships recinded. I had to pay $14,000 in order to register for next semesters classes because they decided to count the cash award as a scholarship. Ask financial aid office before you start getting unlimited funds!

by **RPI CSE** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 2:35 pm

Guest wrote:
tdavis4 wrote:Does this mean they are limiting outside scholarships again. I've spends dozens of hours apply.
I bet they would be more than happy to send you less.money and allow you to get other money elsewhere...talk to your ca

To quote my CA: "The monetary limit on outside funding remains lifted as set forth in the 20 March 2012 email. "

So my people, go forth and apply for free money!!

I believe it depends on your school and the individual scholarships if you can get a kickback from them or if they send it to SMART, so you should check it out, but you can now get as much as you want (following the source restrictions)!

Good luck and good hunting!

by **jramcam** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:39 pm

I am not necessarily shocked, I think a lot of people was upset and actually did something about it. I am sure that there was a significant number of people that started putting this story out there either through social media or contacting their representatives and/or lawyers and that created a lot of pressure. The SMART program was shooting itself in the foot and the decision makers realized that this change in policy would have done more damage than good so they retracted.

by **Guest2** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 8:07 am

Guest wrote:I'm completely and utterly happy, yet still shocked this has happened. Anyone else?

I'm not too concerned. Prior to this, I thought they wouldn't want to reduce our funding. During this, I thought they could and wanted to reduce our funding. Now, I don't care what they want to do because I am certain they CAN'T reduce our funding. They wouldn't have backed off without a lot of pressure. It shows our contracts actually do mean something which is comforting.

by **Guest** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:47 am

I'm completely and utterly happy, yet still shocked this has happened. Anyone else?

by **WaitingIsFun** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 9:22 pm

Congrats current SMART scholars. Now that still leaves the door open to future scholars not getting the IPS but it is a big step in the right direction.

by **Guest2** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 8:11 pm

Guest wrote:
Villain wrote:"Dear SMART Recruitment Participant,

On or about March 20, 2012, you received a correspondence from the SMART Program Office reducing the Internship Support Payment (ISP).

That correspondence is hereby rescinded. The SMART program will continue making ISP payments to current SMART recruitment students at the previously agreed upon level.

The SMART Program Office"

Wow, I can't even believe this is happening right now. I know many of us were frustrated with the turn of events, but I do think this is a perfect example of waiting and trying to let things work itself out. One thing I highly recommend is that anyone who posted questionable comments go back and delete them. I realize you were frustrated, but not everyone in a government organization is bad, and not everyone is out to get you. I'm sure that the SPO worked very hard to come up with an amicable solution and fought for us as best they could. We should certainly take the time to thank our CAs and SMART as a whole. Congratulations everyone, I'm certainly grateful.
I highly doubt this came from waiting and letting things work themselves out. This came from this forum, which I shared with my CA, letters from lawyers, threats of lawyer involvement, complaints from participants to the CAs, complaints from the participants to the SFs, complaints from the SFs to the CAs, complaints to senators, congressmen, DoD, and the white house....hardly inaction. This is a great example of what happens when people do something about someone steamrolling them. Congratulations to all of you.

Also, I've read every post on this forum about this issue and there are no questionable comments.

Quoted for truth.

by **Guest** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 7:53 pm

Villain wrote:"Dear SMART Recruitment Participant,

On or about March 20, 2012, you received a correspondence from the SMART Program Office reducing the Internship Support Payment (ISP).

That correspondence is hereby rescinded. The SMART program will continue making ISP payments to current SMART recruitment students at the previously agreed upon level.

The SMART Program Office"

Wow, I can't even believe this is happening right now. I know many of us were frustrated with the turn of events, but I do think this is a perfect example of waiting and trying to let things work itself out. One thing I highly recommend is that anyone who posted questionable comments go back and delete them. I realize you were frustrated, but not everyone in a government organization is bad, and not everyone is out to get you. I'm sure that the SPO worked very hard to come up with an amicable solution and fought for us as best they could. We should certainly take the time to thank our CAs and SMART as a whole. Congratulations everyone, I'm certainly grateful.

I highly doubt this came from waiting and letting things work themselves out. This came from this forum, which I shared with my CA, letters from lawyers, threats of lawyer involvement, complaints from participants to the CAs, complaints from the participants to the SFs, complaints from the SFs to the CAs, complaints to senators, congressmen, DoD, and the white house....hardly inaction. This is a great example of what happens when people do something about someone steamrolling them. Congratulations to all of you.

Also, I've read every post on this forum about this issue and there are no questionable comments.

by **Billiam** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 7:21 pm

P.S. I meant to type the username for the above post as Billiam. No one should read anything into that name. Blame that on an iPhone autocorrect error.

by **Villain** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 7:18 pm

"Dear SMART Recruitment Participant,

On or about March 20, 2012, you received a correspondence from the SMART Program Office reducing the Internship Support Payment (ISP).

That correspondence is hereby rescinded. The SMART program will continue making ISP payments to current SMART recruitment students at the previously agreed upon level.

The SMART Program Office"

Wow, I can't even believe this is happening right now. I know many of us were frustrated with the turn of events, but I do think this is a perfect example of waiting and trying to let things work itself out. One thing I highly recommend is that anyone who posted questionable comments go back and delete them. I realize you were frustrated, but not everyone in a government organization is bad, and not everyone is out to get you. I'm sure that the SPO worked very hard to come up with an amicable solution and fought for us as best they could. We should certainly take the time to thank our CAs and SMART as a whole. Congratulations everyone, I'm certainly grateful.

by **Guest2** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 6:26 pm

My lawyer sent them a letter this week...I have no clue what it said but it looks like it worked!

by **Guest** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 6:10 pm

tdavis4 wrote:Does this mean they are limiting outside scholarships again. I've spends dozens of hours apply.

I bet they would be more than happy to send you less.money and allow you to get other money elsewhere...talk to your ca

by **Guest** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 5:52 pm

WoooHOOO!!!

by **tdavis4** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 5:51 pm

Does this mean they are limiting outside scholarships again. I've spends dozens of hours apply.

by **Guest5** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 5:48 pm

We did it!!!!!!!

by **empty** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 5:33 pm

Wow. What I wouldn't have given to be a fly on the wall through this whole process.

I am so happy right now.

by **Guest** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 5:17 pm

I think so too!!!!!!!

by **panacea66** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 5:06 pm

I THINK WE JUST GOT OUR MONEY BACK!!!!!!

by **Guest** » Fri Mar 30, 2012 4:00 pm

You know something else that bothers me about the email they sent?

"Over the course of these few years this additional funding source has grown from providing reimbursement for specific costs to providing an additional $14,400 (roughly) per participant, per internship, above and beyond the generous monthly stipend payment participants receive. No other DoD scholarship program offers either the stipend amount that the SMART program does, nor additional financial support on top of the stipend."

1. How can it possibly be $14,400 per participant when a) that's the most anyone was allowed to make at $1200/wk for 12 weeks and some students would have had 8 or 10 week internships, b) 1 year participants don't get this at all, c) that means not a single participant lives within 50 miles of their SF, and d) retention participants don't get this at all... LIARS! Way to make up bull-crap numbers to justify cheating.

2. No other DoD scholarship program requires internships either. Why would they offer travel support if they don't require anyone to go anywhere. This is a moronic statement.

I get madder every day about this.

by **Guest** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 12:19 am

https://www.facebook.com/SmartScholarsStandTogether

Share the FB page with all your friends. Go there and like it. Post ideas. Message the admin. Share the link. Get your parents to like it. Tell your professors and advisers. If we get enough people aware, we can make a difference. Start by liking the page and sharing it.

by **Guest** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 11:36 am

We are paid a stipend during our internship so technically we are paid.

Actually, if you apply for and receive a waiver for the internship over the summer, I believe you continue to receive the regular monthly payment but no internship support payments. Not sure if that legally decouples the monthly stipend from the internship though.

by **Guest1** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 11:01 am

Guest wrote:
xkcd13 wrote:
Guest wrote:May the administrator of this board could allow us registered users to *opt in for email sharing.
You could create a thread where people can just post their emails.
The FB page is up and running. Go like it and then lets move this discussion there. If someone wants to share a petition link on there then we can all sign it. No one can see a list of all people who like the page except the admin who is me, if youre worried about privacy. Get the word out!

https://www.facebook.com/SmartScholarsStandTogether

*like*

by **Guest** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 10:57 am

xkcd13 wrote:
Guest wrote:May the administrator of this board could allow us registered users to *opt in for email sharing.
You could create a thread where people can just post their emails.

The FB page is up and running. Go like it and then lets move this discussion there. If someone wants to share a petition link on there then we can all sign it. No one can see a list of all people who like the page except the admin who is me, if youre worried about privacy. Get the word out!

by **xkcd13** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 10:50 am

Guest wrote:May the administrator of this board could allow us registered users to *opt in for email sharing.

You could create a thread where people can just post their emails.

The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Internship Support Payments

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