The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

by **Guest** » Wed Jul 24, 2013 9:04 pm

Kaelinth wrote:For those of you concerned on hiring, they are getting everything out, it's just taking a VERY long time (and some seriously diligence on the part of HR and your SF mentors).

What does "getting everything out" mean?

And can you speak for the WHOLE DoD when you mention that hiring is just going to take a long time (as opposed to maybe not ever occurring)?

by **Kaelinth** » Wed Jul 24, 2013 11:40 am

For those of you concerned on hiring, they are getting everything out, it's just taking a VERY long time (and some seriously diligence on the part of HR and your SF mentors).

by **concerned_SMART** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 6:57 am

upsetSMART wrote:
contemplating_smart wrote:
concerned_SMART wrote:Just wanted to update everyone that I did receive another letter about my withdrawal.

"Instructions for refunding to the United States an appropriate amount as determined by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Section 2192a, Title 10) will be provided to you at a later date."

Anyone that withdrew from the program receive this as well?
If you don't mind please let us know what they want reimbursed and if they want a lump sum or payments. I am not real happy with what I am seeing this summer and I am trying to weigh my options prior to graduation.
As far as I know, no one has actually gotten reimbursement instructions or a bill yet. At least no one posting on the forum has talked about it from what I'v seen.

Correct. I have not received actual terms of the repayment, just a letter stating that they will send them when they do.

by **upsetSMART** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 7:48 pm

contemplating_smart wrote:
concerned_SMART wrote:Just wanted to update everyone that I did receive another letter about my withdrawal.

"Instructions for refunding to the United States an appropriate amount as determined by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Section 2192a, Title 10) will be provided to you at a later date."

Anyone that withdrew from the program receive this as well?
If you don't mind please let us know what they want reimbursed and if they want a lump sum or payments. I am not real happy with what I am seeing this summer and I am trying to weigh my options prior to graduation.

As far as I know, no one has actually gotten reimbursement instructions or a bill yet. At least no one posting on the forum has talked about it from what I'v seen.

by **contemplating_smart** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 6:11 pm

concerned_SMART wrote:Just wanted to update everyone that I did receive another letter about my withdrawal.

"Instructions for refunding to the United States an appropriate amount as determined by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Section 2192a, Title 10) will be provided to you at a later date."

Anyone that withdrew from the program receive this as well?

If you don't mind please let us know what they want reimbursed and if they want a lump sum or payments. I am not real happy with what I am seeing this summer and I am trying to weigh my options prior to graduation.

by **Guest** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 8:55 am

Nunya wrote:Unfortunately, you don’t really have much of a choice. The way SMART works you have to accept the crap offer or owe the money back. If you don’t complete the commitment, you owe a prorated amount back (although no one has been billed yet that has posted). Obviously, you have to evaluate what is best for your situation, but when you’re comparing dollar figures make sure you add what SMART has paid you (stipend and tuition) on to your SF’s offer. Also, unless you are EXTREAMLY comfortable that the work you’ll be doing actually pertains to your career assume it won’t be applicable experience. Good luck.

I know of someone who gave the SF ample opportunities to hire him at or near the initial "offer". The initial offer usually can't be official, but this student took the SMART scholarship based on email communications about standard hiring offers dictated by OPM guidelines for PhDs at that particular SF. When the time came to get hired several years later, the SF could not present an offer that met the previously mentioned OPM guidelines. The SF (possibly by pressure from the SMART scholarship office) instead chose to circumvent the system and present an offer that was appropriate for a BS degree (by OPM guidelines). About 30% lower than the already super low pay that OPM recommends paying PhD engineers and scientists.

The scholar rejected the lowball offer and was eventually released without obligation to repay the scholarship.

If your SF decides to do something like this to you, I urge you to contact a lawyer or contact SMART management (not your CA or your service liaison). If you can't get anything done on that front, contact your elected representative and ask them to send an inquiry to SMART management on your behalf.

by **Nunya** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 8:06 am

Agent99 wrote:I've been circulating my resume since graduation. This is week 6 after graduation for me with no offer letter but SF's HR has been in touch "offering" a lower grade/pay position while I'm getting better hit. SF wants me to onboard July 1 (with furloughs starting July 8) with no relo or travel pay. If I accept SF's raw deal in the interim, is it problematic to bail when something better solidifies?

Unfortunately, you don’t really have much of a choice. The way SMART works you have to accept the crap offer or owe the money back. If you don’t complete the commitment, you owe a prorated amount back (although no one has been billed yet that has posted). Obviously, you have to evaluate what is best for your situation, but when you’re comparing dollar figures make sure you add what SMART has paid you (stipend and tuition) on to your SF’s offer. Also, unless you are EXTREAMLY comfortable that the work you’ll be doing actually pertains to your career assume it won’t be applicable experience. Good luck.

by **Agent99** » Tue Jun 11, 2013 3:40 pm

I've been circulating my resume since graduation. This is week 6 after graduation for me with no offer letter but SF's HR has been in touch "offering" a lower grade/pay position while I'm getting better hit. SF wants me to onboard July 1 (with furloughs starting July 8) with no relo or travel pay. If I accept SF's raw deal in the interim, is it problematic to bail when something better solidifies?

by **concerned_SMART** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 3:18 pm

Just wanted to update everyone that I did receive another letter about my withdrawal.

"Instructions for refunding to the United States an appropriate amount as determined by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Section 2192a, Title 10) will be provided to you at a later date."

Anyone that withdrew from the program receive this as well?

by **Guest** » Sun Jun 02, 2013 10:14 am

concerned_SMART wrote:Hi everyone,

I thought I would start a thread dedicated to anyone who is graduating in the May/June time frame and their saga associated with getting hired during these harsh times. I have been told by my SF that the hiring freeze is fully in place and that with furloughs being discussed, there isn't any word on whether they will be able to provide me an offer when I graduate. I told them that I was moving forward with applying to other jobs and he mentioned that as a good thing to continue doing.

I have emailed the SMART office on several occasions asking about the timeline for being released (if it comes to that) or how long I actually have to wait for an offer to be provided from the SF. Just like most people's experience with the SMART office, I have received no responses to any of my emails. (only one response and that was telling me to direct my question to another email address that did not respond)

I am frankly floored at how little communication is being provided to us about the payment delay, as well as the cuts and hiring freeze. Best of luck to everyone and I look forward to hearing everyone's experience with this and posting mine as things move forward.

Sorry this question comes so late, but would you mind sharing who it was you were directed to contact that never responded? I assume it was something other than smart@asee.org and smart@nps.edu. Was it a particular person? If so, in what function is the person supposed serving?

by **concerned_SMART** » Fri May 31, 2013 10:43 am

upsetSMART wrote:
concerned_SMART wrote:Just wanted to update everyone,

SMART recently accepted my withdrawal form. I could not wait until after graduation to apply for an offer from the SF so I withdrew from the program. I will keep everyone up to date if I hear anything further from the program on any front.
Any word on them sending you a bill yet? Thanks for your update.

No, they only just accepted the withdrawal within the last couple of weeks. I'm not sure exactly the term limits on something like this, but if anything changes I will be sure to post it so others can learn from the process.

by **upsetSMART** » Fri May 31, 2013 10:35 am

concerned_SMART wrote:Just wanted to update everyone,

SMART recently accepted my withdrawal form. I could not wait until after graduation to apply for an offer from the SF so I withdrew from the program. I will keep everyone up to date if I hear anything further from the program on any front.

Any word on them sending you a bill yet? Thanks for your update.

by **concerned_SMART** » Fri May 31, 2013 9:56 am

Just wanted to update everyone,

SMART recently accepted my withdrawal form. I could not wait until after graduation to apply for an offer from the SF so I withdrew from the program. I will keep everyone up to date if I hear anything further from the program on any front.

by **Guest** » Wed May 08, 2013 5:45 pm

In my experience, I took a job that started 45 days after my graduation. I notified SMART 3 days after my start date (48 days after graduation). I received my stipend the week before my start date (30 days after graduation) but not the stipend 3 weeks after my start date (60 days after graduation). SMART had not yet found me a job at that time. I asked why the stipend stopped: was it due to me having another job or some other reason. I was told SMART policy is to stop the stipend 30 days after graduation date. I was released from SMART about 6 months after I had started my new job.

I don't know if that was a convenient excuse for not paying me while I was working somewhere else, or if they would really leave SMART scholars out to dry like that. I can only imagine being a SMART student who has not yet been hired by his/her SF, yet passes 30 days after graduation with no job prospects.

by **concerned_SMART** » Wed May 08, 2013 12:08 pm

Does anyone know if when SMART finds out an alternative job has been accepted, if they stop your payments/tuition as soon as this is found out?

by **Guest222** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 9:51 am

Guest wrote:Section 16 of the handbook states an offer letter is required within 2 weeks of graduation. For those still waiting, I'm curious about the implications of missing this deadline, if it is beyond our control. Could this be considered a breach of contract and grounds for withdrawal from the program?

To my understanding, missing the 2 weeks 'deadline' is not a breach of contract. It's not really even a deadline, so much a motivational tool to make sure you're on top of things and disincentivize you backpacking through Europe for 3 months following graduation. Do you really think they're in the business of shelling out $100k+, and letting you out of your service commitment on a technicality? That said, I'm still waiting on my offer as well, and getting a bit nervous.

I spoke with my CA about the '2 weeks prior to graduation' bit, and this was her reply (reworded):

"SF's might take longer than expected to work through the hiring process, and SMART understands this. Submission of an offer letter two weeks prior to graduation is a general rule in the handbook, but there is no official deadline. Continue communication with your SF, and when your firm job offer letter is received, please forward it to me."

The most important thing I've been able to do to expedite the process thus far is putting my SF's HR rep in contact with the service liaison and my SF POC (who is on the opposite coast from my SF). You would expect that these folks would already be in contact, but if you're your SF's first SMART Scholar, you might need to help them through the process.

by **Guest** » Mon Apr 29, 2013 10:29 am

Guest wrote:I wish. However, considering that what we signed isn't a contract, but a one-sided agreement, I doubt it. I am talking to my school lawyer tomorrow to see if I can at least pressure them into either hiring or releasing me by 2 weeks before graduation. I'll post my results.

FYI - they plan on paying you the stipend 30 days after graduation. After that, I believe policy is to stop stipend payments (you should verify).

So, putting an arbitrary 2-week timeframe seems pretty baseless, and I'm guessing your school lawyer will agree.

Now, after 30 days when they presumably cut you off, you may have a case for why you are no longer beholden to the original agreement.

by **Guest** » Sun Apr 28, 2013 10:38 pm

Guest wrote:Section 16 of the handbook states an offer letter is required within 2 weeks of graduation. For those still waiting, I'm curious about the implications of missing this deadline, if it is beyond our control. Could this be considered a breach of contract and grounds for withdrawal from the program?

I wish. However, considering that what we signed isn't a contract, but a one-sided agreement, I doubt it. I am talking to my school lawyer tomorrow to see if I can at least pressure them into either hiring or releasing me by 2 weeks before graduation. I'll post my results.

by **Guest** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:20 am

Section 16 of the handbook states an offer letter is required within 2 weeks of graduation. For those still waiting, I'm curious about the implications of missing this deadline, if it is beyond our control. Could this be considered a breach of contract and grounds for withdrawal from the program?

by **fish_** » Mon Apr 15, 2013 3:43 pm

@ Kaelinth,

we didn't do anything special, the SF just sent the offer

by **Kaelinth** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 6:34 pm

fish_ wrote:NSWC Dahlgren sent job offer letter last week, so they are bringing SMART participants on board.

This is awesome to hear! Hopefully I'll be hearing something soon from my SF. Did anything special have to get done?

by **fish_** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 8:00 am

NSWC Dahlgren sent job offer letter last week, so they are bringing SMART participants on board.

by **Guest** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 2:05 pm

Nunya wrote:So, though a conversation with our SF SMART poc about other things it came up that they are definitely able to hire current awardees under a special authorization from up on high. If you are still getting the shoulder shrug from your SF make sure you're talking to the actual SMART contact. Not your mentor, not your supervisor, not even some generic person in HR. There is a specific person that handles the SMART details within HR, and that is who you need to be talking to. FYI this might fall under the "student program" specialist.

My facility had a student program HR specialist, but she gave me the shoulder shrug like you wouldn't believe when it came time to hire me. She also shoulder shrugged some students in other DoD programs, too.

Probably why you can no longer find my SF on the available SFs list....

by **Nunya** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 2:03 pm

So, though a conversation with our SF SMART poc about other things it came up that they are definitely able to hire current awardees under a special authorization from up on high. If you are still getting the shoulder shrug from your SF make sure you're talking to the actual SMART contact. Not your mentor, not your supervisor, not even some generic person in HR. There is a specific person that handles the SMART details within HR, and that is who you need to be talking to. FYI this might fall under the "student program" specialist.

by **madashell** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 6:59 pm

Has been given a job offer ? May is getting close and I have not heard anything from my SF.

They still do not know what is going to happen.

Let us know if anyone gets a job offer please.

The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

May/June Graduation

Post a reply

Expand view Topic review: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation

Re: May/June Graduation