The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

@Guest26
I forgot to add that the Leave of Absence paperwork is submitted AFTER the award is denied (if it is). You will define the time period you desire when you submit the LOA form.

Thank you @Guest26. I am sorry I took so long to respond to you. I haven't been on the forum in a while.

But, from what I believe it is simply a leave of absense and does not add time to your committment. I understand what you mean about the time extension because I actually will be done in August 2013 officially since my school does degree conferrals on Aug 31st so I will not receive my degree until then. My original request said eearly August I believe, but at least it said August for conferral.

I hope your award DOES get approved! I think mine was denied because of the money it would cost to pay me and pay for 1 credit hour, but when I asked for an explanation, my CA said that they don't give explanations. -_- lol. It could also have been that they did not like my explanation. Who knows.

Let me know what happens.

Hey Guest25, sorry to hear that you are in a tough position. I am in a similar one, having submitted an extension request and waiting to hear back.
Was the offer of a leave of absence for the same length that your extension request was for? If I am offered a leave of absence, I may be inclined to take a bit longer than the extension I requested.
I'm also assuming that the leave of absence does not extend your employment commitment time. Can you confirm this?

My Award Length Change was not approved and the only other option they offered to me was a Leave of Absence, which I understand to be a period with no pay or tuition help. Although, it would allow me time to finish my research depending on if it is approved. We shall see how this ends. I pray well.

thanks for advice

Wow, well thank you for your reply. An extra year is definitely doable rather than losing the program altogether! SMART still hasn't gotten back to me after the question list of Why's and When's, but I suppose that's because of the floods of emails about our delayed pay situation.Thanks for the info. That gives me hope that they won't throw me out of the program. :) My SF does approve of the request so I hope my situation turns out like yours did.

I had to retake a class summer after I was supposed to graduate. I was that guy who took senioritis to the max. It took a bunch of work but with SF support SMART agreed to give me those three months. Also, an extra summer semester is considered the same as a full semester. Along with the penalty for late change, if you are approved, this will add a full year to your commitment.

Probably good advice.. lol. Writing a page of my thesis as we speak.

The research advisors at my school sort of expect the students here to take three years. I'm afraid I fell into the "Concentrate on your classes and perform well" when I should've been doing a lot more. Either way. I think I can double time my hours and finish, but the emails have already been exchanged. They are at least asking me the why's and whens. But I am still worried I am pushing it. :/. Thanks for the reply.

I'll let everyone know the outcome.. good or bad.

I changed award length twice, but never on a short notice.

I would guess SMART is upset that you have ruined their budget. They were expecting to have you off their stipend books by June. Now they've gotta pay you til September.

Make sure your SF can actually hire you in September. If your SF says "well, we'll definitely be able to hire him by December" SMART will not be pleased, as you are stipendless for several months due to not following procedure.

Figure it out quick, but if I were you, I'd stop sleeping 8 hours a night and finish by April/May.

Does anybody have any insight on Award Length changes after the "150 days prior to expected graduation date"?

I am in a dilemma because I need to extend my school time into the summer (asking for 3 extra months), but it seems that I am only 4 months away from May 2013, rather than 5 months. In the handbook it states that a participant can be taken out of the program for requesting an award length change too late or not finishing on time I suppose. I don't see me finishing my Master's thesis and defense by April (May graduation), but I may have to (or TRY to) if I am unable to request an extension. Any experience or further info on the subject?

I did email my CA, waiting on a response. My SF is fine with my request, including the summer internship waiver, which is required due to the extension being in the summer months.

"Late Degree Completion

Participants submit the Award Length Change Request available on the SMART website as
soon as the need for an extension arises and no later than 150 days prior to the original degree
completion date on the award. Requests received later than that date may not be considered and may
result in dismissal from the program. Requests for extensions are considered where extenuating
circumstances prevent a participant from completing the degree on time.

Participants who receive an extension receive a commensurate increase in the service commitment.
Extensions that cross a summer period require completion of an internship. See Section 15.1.
Participants who do not receive an extension and fail to timely complete their degree may be dismissed
from the program."