Quitting Smart Scholarship

General Discussion for SMART Scholarship Recipients
sarah

Quitting Smart Scholarship

Post by sarah »

Hi, I was recently offered the Smart DoD scholarship, but have read horror stories on this forum. I wanted to ask if anyone has had any experience with quitting the Smart scholarship and their experience with paying back the funding they received.

I am reading the Service Agreement and it mentions penalties and interest. Can anyone please elaborate on this? I just want to make an informed decision and be aware of what I could potentially be signing up for. Please and thank you.

Sisyphus
Posts: 79
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 12:40 pm
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Re: Quitting Smart Scholarship

Post by Sisyphus »

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 them of their debt and it going further than DFAS, but this is the average scenario):

You are notified to pay a lump sum at once back of everything you owe AT SOME POINT after you quit (could be a few months, could be a year or two, there is no fixed timetable):
- this does not include health insurance or internship payments (everything else tuition/book fees/etc. is fair game).
- that total amount you do owe is prorated for the fraction of your service commitment you fulfilled (did 2 out of 4 years at your SF, bill is 50% your total).

If you cannot pay the lump sum, you are expected to pay the whole amount back within 3 years to DFAS as the nominal standard
- interest is 1% as of my most recent knowledge.

As far as I'm aware from all the stories I've seen/heard there haven't been any extra "penalties" on top of base repayment...unless you count the psychic torment of receiving shakedown notices in the mail after 5-10 years of nothing like most participants in default got in 2018.

There HAVE been a small # of successful debt disputes due to the gross misconduct/mismanagement of the SPO in how some participants left, but if the circumstance is anything along the lines of "my SF wasn't using my abilities/it's just not a good match/etc." you can expect to be put in repayment. Yes SMART is perfectly willing to fund you for a STEM degree, BS MS or PhD, and have you pushing papers doing admin work at your SF if that's what your SF wants. SMART doesn't give a shit about whether or not its participants are being properly utilized or if there was a point in funding their education, just that the SF is happy.

Further, SMART also doesn't give a shit if you left to go work at another DoD lab, even for the same branch of the military; if you left your SF without their (almost never given) blessing they'll come after you.

That's all I got for an overview. If you have more questions for your specific case I'd advise you to go to the Debtor's Discord I run, you can find the link a few posts down.

sarah

Re: Quitting Smart Scholarship

Post by sarah »

Sisyphus wrote:
Wed May 13, 2020 5:53 pm
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 them of their debt and it going further than DFAS, but this is the average scenario):

You are notified to pay a lump sum at once back of everything you owe AT SOME POINT after you quit (could be a few months, could be a year or two, there is no fixed timetable):
- this does not include health insurance or internship payments (everything else tuition/book fees/etc. is fair game).
- that total amount you do owe is prorated for the fraction of your service commitment you fulfilled (did 2 out of 4 years at your SF, bill is 50% your total).

If you cannot pay the lump sum, you are expected to pay the whole amount back within 3 years to DFAS as the nominal standard
- interest is 1% as of my most recent knowledge.

As far as I'm aware from all the stories I've seen/heard there haven't been any extra "penalties" on top of base repayment...unless you count the psychic torment of receiving shakedown notices in the mail after 5-10 years of nothing like most participants in default got in 2018.

There HAVE been a small # of successful debt disputes due to the gross misconduct/mismanagement of the SPO in how some participants left, but if the circumstance is anything along the lines of "my SF wasn't using my abilities/it's just not a good match/etc." you can expect to be put in repayment. Yes SMART is perfectly willing to fund you for a STEM degree, BS MS or PhD, and have you pushing papers doing admin work at your SF if that's what your SF wants. SMART doesn't give a shit about whether or not its participants are being properly utilized or if there was a point in funding their education, just that the SF is happy.

Further, SMART also doesn't give a shit if you left to go work at another DoD lab, even for the same branch of the military; if you left your SF without their (almost never given) blessing they'll come after you.

That's all I got for an overview. If you have more questions for your specific case I'd advise you to go to the Debtor's Discord I run, you can find the link a few posts down.
Thank you for this. Where can I find the Debtor's Discord? I would love to read more about this. I just want to know what I am getting myself into before I accept the award.

Sisyphus
Posts: 79
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 12:40 pm
Contact:

Re: Quitting Smart Scholarship

Post by Sisyphus »

https://discord.gg/MEhgRRC

Copied from older post for visibility.

mrmoney

Re: Quitting Smart Scholarship

Post by mrmoney »

FWIW, I was pretty nervous about the program from reading stuff on here too, but I'm pretty happy with how things have worked out. I had three internships that all went super smoothly, I like the people I work with, and I got offered a lot more than I honestly thought I would after reading the horror stories (70k/yr in a low COL area).

You have to keep in mind people have a negative bias; there are more people willing to go out of their way to write up a horror story than a "pleasant surprise" take. The people who are happy with things aren't usually the people posting here.

That said, horror stories do seem to happen. A couple things I would check:

- Try and get in contact with other SMART scholars at your SF. If they say run, do it.

- At least go through your site visit before bailing. You don't start collecting debt until you've done your visit, so there's no cost involved. See the people you'll be working with.

- Find out whether your lab is on the GS pay scale, or another payscale. The GS pay scale has a worse starting pay, and only really pays off if you plan on sticking around for your whole career (it's based off of time served rather than merit). Other scales, such as what NRL and AFRL are on, pay more competitively with industry.

- Consider your locality. While pay scales with locality, it often doesn't scale enough for locality (high COL areas will be super tough to live in on just about any salary they'd offer you).

Be smart, thoroughly consider all your options, and good luck out there.

NOYBokay
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Feb 01, 2021 4:06 pm
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Re: Quitting Smart Scholarship

Post by NOYBokay »

mrmoney wrote:
Thu May 21, 2020 2:29 pm
FWIW, I was pretty nervous about the program from reading stuff on here too, but I'm pretty happy with how things have worked out. I had three internships that all went super smoothly, I like the people I work with, and I got offered a lot more than I honestly thought I would after reading the horror stories (70k/yr in a low COL area).

You have to keep in mind people have a negative bias; there are more people willing to go out of their way to write up a horror story than a "pleasant surprise" take. The people who are happy with things aren't usually the people posting here.

That said, horror stories do seem to happen. A couple things I would check:

- Try and get in contact with other SMART scholars at your SF. If they say run, do it.

- At least go through your site visit before bailing. You don't start collecting debt until you've done your visit, so there's no cost involved. See the people you'll be working with.

- Find out whether your lab is on the GS pay scale, or another payscale. The GS pay scale has a worse starting pay, and only really pays off if you plan on sticking around for your whole career (it's based off of time served rather than merit). Other scales, such as what NRL and AFRL are on, pay more competitively with industry.

- Consider your locality. While pay scales with locality, it often doesn't scale enough for locality (high COL areas will be super tough to live in on just about any salary they'd offer you).

Be smart, thoroughly consider all your options, and good luck out there.
Do you mind if I DM you (or you can DM me, if that is easier)?

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