The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Barring rare potential exceptions of which I'm unaware, SMART wants you enrolled "full time."

Also that way they can ensure ABD PhD's rack of 10's of thousands of dollars of additional debt on "Thesis Research" credits well beyond what they actually need to graduate...

You would be a fool though to ignore all the horror stories and engage in Pollyanna-ish "well THAT won't happen to ME"-ism. Fact is, approximately 5-10% (closer to 10%) of participants, by the USDR&E's own admission in a response letter to me over a year ago, wind up owing SMART money in the end for...

It is very much a random crapshoot most of the time. Also don't forget, even if your SF is currently well funded to do research in your area...unless they have really long funding horizons/stable mission areas, it could easily be the case that by the time you actually get out with your PhD (if you g...

Some of the SFs are kind of... a source of trouble.... Talk to the facility SMART coordinator maybe. I told mine I expected to get worse treatment and she said, "We can burn you out in 3 years or aim for you to retire with us, we prefer the latter." I am disappointed all SFs are not handling this e...

No. As much as SMART might wish it they don't literally own you as a slave. If you're able/willing to pay it back when they come for it for leaving without cause, they just have to eat it. It will not affect your security clearance, either existing or in the future, so don't listen if SMART tries to...

Don't let them realize it's a standard forum with DM's...

Shhhhhhhhhh

I'd be GLAD to share stories about both my experience: - Being trapped in a dysfunctional PhD program with no way out and ultimately tossed aside from the program with no warning despite continued progress on my degree, which anyone who knows anything about academia knows PhDs don't have consistent ...

... do I have any legal authority to challenge my sf if they don't hold up on their promises. What legal action can I pursue? Honestly, nothing in all likelihood. Numerous defaulted participants have consulted lawyers and often they are met with a [more prettily phrased] "This is such an elastic, s...

https://discord.gg/MEhgRRC

Copied from older post for visibility.

If you're in a PhD I'd be vary wary of accepting this award (you can search my post history as to how I speak from experience). SMART will IN NO WAY help you actually finish your PhD. It will in fact actively hinder your due to the internship requirements. They don't help you with funding. You are a...

That process could potentially be in a bit of flux, but it's far too soon to tell (and I probably won't have data until 2021 on my end...). But here is the overall nominal repayment context for people who quit (there are some that have been worse, usually due to SMART having not properly notified th...

Just for one data point to imply that if your clearances are taking that long there is SOMETHING weird going on somewhere (might have to do with the bureaucracy, and not you) and backup plans might be advisable: I was extended an offer by one of the major national defense contractors and submitted m...

Just doing the regular reminder of/easy link access to the "Debtor's Discord" for SMART that I run that specializes in materials related to consequences of/fighting against dismissal from the SMART program. https://discord.gg/MEhgRRC It is also a good resource to ask participants who left the progra...

I’m assuming that if they can’t place a scholar and they get dismissed at no fault of their own, they wouldn’t have to pay it back. I’d like to know how long they have to tell me where I’m going before they have to bite the bullet and dismiss me. While in theory that's how it's supposed to work, th...

SMARTRegret wrote:Do they prorate what you owe based on time served?

Yes time served at your SF chops off a proportional amount of your debt repayment obligation...I think roughly to the month based on what I recall from other participants but they can correct me if I'm wrong.

They didn't talk about student loan repayment, continuing education, rate of step changes, or anything else? Did they give an offer letter or just tell you what the job was? Lack of at least an attempt to use longer term service agreements is unexpected. They'll tell you about all the other informa...

Are you sure you don't have to repay the summer internship stipends and health insurance? I thought you had to repay everything SMART had paid on your behalf. It would make sense if you didn't have to repay the ISPs, health insurance, and then that $2k for the site visit at the beginning of the pro...

Just transfer without their blessing. As long as you're employed by a federal agency you're fulfilling your end of the contract. If SMART says anything, tell them they were breaching the contract by having you do work that isn't related to Science, Math, Engineering, etc... I would not listen to th...

You don't "negotiate" coming in.

Barring a facility operating very differently from the norm, you come in at the GS pay level standard per your education with the corresponding salary + cost of living locality pay and that's it.

Process can take an arbitrary amount of time to approve, as SMART is not known for being on the ball with paperwork. SMART basically has no understanding of what a PhD actually entails or how things can go wrong, see my post history and others who have done a PhD in this shitshow of a program. Just ...

To hammer the point home: SMART views you as their, and your sponsoring SF's, property. You are an indentured servant in their eyes with no rights. You ***ONLY*** get to jump ship on their terms, which requires your original SF being actively for it most of the time (unless you can demonstrate signi...

You cannot just 'delay' any payback, at least not on your terms. The best you can do is use the current dispute process. Once you get served notice (and that could take a long while, it took almost a year and a half for me to get my debt letter despite being kicked out for my PhD taking too long onl...

If you do not go to your SF in particular, SMART will hold you in default and try to get you to repay everything regardless of where you're working even if it was with the DoD. Some participants who have disputed their debt DID continue to work for the DoD in some other capacity, but there is no out...

So since you're pondering things I'd suggest first of all going to the Debtor's Discord I manage so you can ask questions of other exiles and read up on the current state of knowledge about what happens if you leave the program. As of now there actually is a process in place where after they say "pa...

Side note, is there a chance that if I submit the paperwork to leave, they can say “no”? As much as I'm sure they wish they could set it up to be otherwise, you are not a slave to the SMART program and can leave at any time and they can't do shit about it... but what you ARE is an indentured servan...