The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Hi everybody I'm a new recipient for the SMART scholarship and I have been working on planning out my finances over the course of the next few years for my family. My question is specifically is, as the title states, regarding the annual miscellaneous allowance rate stated in the service agreement....

Is the stipend cited on the website provided when in college, or is that the payment for employment after receiving the scholarship? That is the in-school stipend. If your stipend is $38000/ year, you get $3166.67/month over all 12 months while in school. If you are more than 50 miles from your spo...

guest2 wrote:Hi, I'm in Phase 1 from the 2012 cohort year. I see people saying there's paperwork due May 1...is that paperwork for new scholars? I didn't think I had anything due May 1. Thanks.

It's just the 2015 cohort.

The SSP funds the total cost of full-time tuition and approved related educational fees during the academic year (fall through spring)... There is no cap on tuition and the amount of a SSPP’s tuition does not affect the length of the service commitment. Approved related educational fees generally i...

guest wrote:I can't seem to get on the SMART website. It's been a couple days now, has anyone else had this problem? I need to print out the paperwork forms!

I had a similar problem last year. I was able to fix it by resetting my browser (clear all Cache and Cookies). It's worth a shot.

If a place is my second preference will I not receive a Smart Scholarship from them because I listed them as my second preference? For Example: I don't know if I will receive a Smart Scholarship from my first duty preference and so far I did not during the first round, but I am pretty sure I would ...

"SSPPs who applied for and received a SMART award in the years 2008 through 2015 may request an increase in the stipend rate for additional qualifications earned in the form of a conferred STEM degree funded by SMART." Just wondering if anyone knows what this means? This is in regard to what your h...

Hi all, I am currently a 3rd year PhD student in Pharmacology, but actually do research on neuroscience of TBI (heavy electrophysiology and biochemistry). I was blessed with an NIH sponsored training fellowship and have a few other fellowships that I want to apply for and have a good chance of gett...

I have had phone interviews with two SFs, which happened to be my top two choices (at least when I was forced to choose them earlier). I have read somewhat conflicting information on this site about how things might proceed from here. I really hit it off with a PI at one facility and am leaning tha...

What day of the month can we expect to receive our regular monthly stipend. I have heard both the 15th of every month as well as the second or third Friday? According to the SMART award site, it is the 3rd Friday of every month. (Look under payment history) Interesting. That wording has been remove...

cmuRobots wrote:What day of the month can we expect to receive our regular monthly stipend. I have heard both the 15th of every month as well as the second or third Friday?

According to the SMART award site, it is the 3rd Friday of every month. (Look under payment history)

My money was deposited in my bank last night.

smart2014 wrote:I'm wondering when the bursar letter will be available too, it should be on our https://smart.asee.org/award/ page, right?

Yup. Got mine today.

Does the threat of dept repayment for non compliance scare anyone else? I like to call that the "Doom and Gloom" section that pretty much all DoD programs have. The reality is usually much different from what it sounds like. Wording is very important with the DoD... Those "May" statements are very ...

My orientation login information came in today. If you haven't seen it yet, check your spam folder. Gmail spammed mine.

So, the paperwork is in. Now what? I keep hearing the notifications (orientation email, bursar letters) will be coming. But when? I got this form response today when I inquired: ------ You should be contacted soon regarding the SMART online orientation. Since the SMART Program Office is the office ...

Has anyone's award status on the required forms changed? It still says my paperwork work is Not Received and they arrived in the mail at ASEE Tuesday morning. I talked to them yesterday and they said that the status would update as soon as all of my paperwork was processed. I would assume it takes ...

Has anyone's award status on the required forms changed? It still says my paperwork work is Not Received and they arrived in the mail at ASEE Tuesday morning. I talked to them yesterday and they said that the status would update as soon as all of my paperwork was processed. I would assume it takes ...

Thanks for that info. I'm planning on sending out my information sometime early next week. I have been reading a lot of info about people that are unhappy with the SMART scholarship. Should this be taken with a grain of salt? It seems to me that the award is very generous and sets you up with a job...

Yes, I am about half way through the paperwork. You think this is bad, wait until you get to the security paperwork. Last time I did security clearance paperwork, it was a good 40 pages of questions outlining your life in exhaustive detail going back at least 7 years. Granted, it has been 16 years s...

SF: SPAWAR Atlantic
School: University of Colorado Boulder
Degree: PhD in Computer Science
Award Length: 3 Years

I have not received an email, but I went to smart.asee.org/award to see if I could login. After logging in, there was a message that I received an award. This was exciting, but confusing at the same time. The SF listed had not previously contacted me to let me know that they would be offering me an...

I got accepted! Here is what the email says... ------------------------------------------ Congratulations! On behalf of the Department of Defense we are pleased to inform you that you have been awarded a scholarship under the Science, Mathematics, And Research for Transformation (SMART) Defense Educ...

Hello, I have been debating whether to take the SMART Scholarship or not, as I do think it is a great deal, with the exception of it looking like it would be complicated to pursue a PhD after completing my Master's after being funded by the SMART scholarship, due to application for a follow-on or t...

JoeyL wrote:How will we be contacted? By email? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, it should be by email... at least it has been in the past, and I don't see why they would change it.