Interim Clearance Not Recommended

[Elowegreen]

So last summer I accepted the SMART scholarship, and I filled out the necessary forms to obtain a security clearance in November of last year. Since then I have not received any correspondence from anyone at my SF even once trying to reach out to them with no response. However, my scholar coordinator kept telling me that it was a long process and to just wait. All of a sudden, last Thursday, I get an email from SMART saying I have been dismissed from the program as I was not recommended for an interim clearance (without giving a reason why). This came as a big surprise to me as I didn't think I would be denied a clearance, but also, from reading about other's experiences on here, not being granted an interim clearance usually results in skipping one summer internship while waiting for the full adjudication process to complete for the actual full security clearance. My SF point of contact said she had no idea and was only informed of the dismissal herself the same day as me. Does anyone have any experience with this? It just seems quite drastic to dismiss someone from the program for missing one of the summer internships. Also, does anyone know if I will need to pay back SMART everything they have given to me so far?