The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

A thread for the discussion of the updates to the 2012 Participant Handbook.

It looks like pretty much all the changes are greatly in our favor. I, for one, am happy that they have seemingly attempted to cut out as much of the unnecessary paperwork aspects of the program. It seems everything is going to be much more streamlined and efficient. I'm pleasantly surprised.

Agreed, the changes indicate a directed effort toward streamlining, which is good. It's a bummer about orientation though - the free trip was one of the big perks for me. Also, I know there are SMARTs out there who wouldn't read the entire handbook unless they absolutely had to, like we did at orientation.

I didn't see the ISP amount listed in the new literature sent by email. Hopefully they don't change it again...

Yeah, they don't list the Internship Support Payments, nor do they give a general guideline for what your stipend level should be depending on your academic achievements. I don't know if this means different cohort years will be paid differently, or if we all can see varying pay scales in the future.

Guest wrote:Yeah, they don't list the Internship Support Payments, nor do they give a general guideline for what your stipend level should be depending on your academic achievements. I don't know if this means different cohort years will be paid differently, or if we all can see varying pay scales in the future.

They do list,
"Internship support payments in the amount of $1000/week*.
*Multi-year participants only; some restrictions apply",
in the Award Notification and Service Agreement as well as cash award annual rate which looks to be the same as before, for me at least with $38,000 for PhD.

guestUF wrote:

Guest wrote:Yeah, they don't list the Internship Support Payments, nor do they give a general guideline for what your stipend level should be depending on your academic achievements. I don't know if this means different cohort years will be paid differently, or if we all can see varying pay scales in the future.

They do list,
"Internship support payments in the amount of $1000/week*.
*Multi-year participants only; some restrictions apply",
in the Award Notification and Service Agreement as well as cash award annual rate which looks to be the same as before, for me at least with $38,000 for PhD.

The updated handbook does not contain this information. Is that all it says about the ISP? Does the award still go up to $41,800?

Guest is correct. If you search the new handbook for the terms "internship support" and "cash award" there are no matches. I suspect that each cohort will have different paperwork in this regard and so they didn't include it as a part of the standard handbook for all cohorts.

GuestUF stated the ISP is noted in "the Award Notification and Service Agreement" which seems to indicate that it was addressed in a recent service agreement that he received. Just my guess from what he wrote.

guest22 wrote:GuestUF stated the ISP is noted in "the Award Notification and Service Agreement" which seems to indicate that it was addressed in a recent service agreement that he received. Just my guess from what he wrote.

Yes, GuestUF, is that EXACTLY what it said about the internship payments? Us past year scholars are extremely paranoid about this stuff after what happened with the internship funding this summer.

Im a 2011 cohort at 1200 a week this summer. I emailed smart about next years ISP and this is what I got. "Information regarding Internship Support Payments will be provided closer to next summer. Please let me know if you have any other questions."

This kinda scares me because it looks like there gonna try and cut us again

Tdavis, I got pretty much the same answer today as well.

A couple of the new scholars have posted that their award says $1000 a week. That's not what we signed up for, but also not $0 a week like we were set to get next year.

Guest wrote:

guest22 wrote:GuestUF stated the ISP is noted in "the Award Notification and Service Agreement" which seems to indicate that it was addressed in a recent service agreement that he received. Just my guess from what he wrote.

Yes, GuestUF, is that EXACTLY what it said about the internship payments? Us past year scholars are extremely paranoid about this stuff after what happened with the internship funding this summer.

Like I said originally, this is stated in the "Award Notification and Service Agreement" not the Handbook. And the text in quotes is exactly what it says.

Guest wrote:

guestUF wrote:

Guest wrote:Yeah, they don't list the Internship Support Payments, nor do they give a general guideline for what your stipend level should be depending on your academic achievements. I don't know if this means different cohort years will be paid differently, or if we all can see varying pay scales in the future.

They do list,
"Internship support payments in the amount of $1000/week*.
*Multi-year participants only; some restrictions apply",
in the Award Notification and Service Agreement as well as cash award annual rate which looks to be the same as before, for me at least with $38,000 for PhD.

The updated handbook does not contain this information. Is that all it says about the ISP? Does the award still go up to $41,800?

I remember reading that the $41,000, not $41,800, is reserved for PhD candidates, meaning after you pass your qualifying exams you submit paperwork for an increase of $3,000.

empty wrote:Guest is correct. If you search the new handbook for the terms "internship support" and "cash award" there are no matches. I suspect that each cohort will have different paperwork in this regard and so they didn't include it as a part of the standard handbook for all cohorts.

The handbook update email that they sent out said one of the changes was that the cash awards are now referred to as stipends. Maybe that is why you couldn't find anything.

Three Point One Four wrote:

empty wrote:Guest is correct. If you search the new handbook for the terms "internship support" and "cash award" there are no matches. I suspect that each cohort will have different paperwork in this regard and so they didn't include it as a part of the standard handbook for all cohorts.

The handbook update email that they sent out said one of the changes was that the cash awards are now referred to as stipends. Maybe that is why you couldn't find anything.

What is this 'handbook update email'? I have not received any communication except the award email.

guestUF wrote:What is this 'handbook update email'? I have not received any communication except the award email.

Maybe it only went out to previuos cohorts, I am 2011, since it would be your first handbook and changes wouldn't mean anything to this year's cohort.

Also, Go Gators!

Three Point One Four wrote:Also, Go Gators!

like

Three Point One Four wrote:

guestUF wrote:What is this 'handbook update email'? I have not received any communication except the award email.

Maybe it only went out to previuos cohorts, I am 2011, since it would be your first handbook and changes wouldn't mean anything to this year's cohort.

Ok, things are starting to make more sense now.

guestUF wrote:

Three Point One Four wrote:

guestUF wrote:What is this 'handbook update email'? I have not received any communication except the award email.

Maybe it only went out to previuos cohorts, I am 2011, since it would be your first handbook and changes wouldn't mean anything to this year's cohort.

Ok, things are starting to make more sense now.

In the handbook revised email, it said the revised handbook apply to ALL cohort years.

Three Point One Four wrote:

empty wrote:Guest is correct. If you search the new handbook for the terms "internship support" and "cash award" there are no matches. I suspect that each cohort will have different paperwork in this regard and so they didn't include it as a part of the standard handbook for all cohorts.

The handbook update email that they sent out said one of the changes was that the cash awards are now referred to as stipends. Maybe that is why you couldn't find anything.

Those were the search terms because that is what another post quoted. Apparently that quote was not referring to the revised handbook, thus making this thread much longer than it need to be due to confusion (partially on my part).

empty wrote:

Three Point One Four wrote:

empty wrote:Guest is correct. If you search the new handbook for the terms "internship support" and "cash award" there are no matches. I suspect that each cohort will have different paperwork in this regard and so they didn't include it as a part of the standard handbook for all cohorts.

The handbook update email that they sent out said one of the changes was that the cash awards are now referred to as stipends. Maybe that is why you couldn't find anything.

Those were the search terms because that is what another post quoted. Apparently that quote was not referring to the revised handbook, thus making this thread much longer than it need to be due to confusion (partially on my part).

No it doesn't say anything quantitative about "stipends" either.

2011 cohort wrote:In the handbook revised email, it said the revised handbook apply to ALL cohort years.

I noticed this statement in that email also, and I've seen this point mentioned in other threads. It appears to me to be yet another case of the program administration being unfair to the participants.

I don't see how it could possibly be legal to force the participants to comply with the terms of a contract that they didn't sign (if they change the terms of a contract, that would make it a different contract, correct?). Can anyone offer confirmation as to whether they are seriously trying to to defend this legally, or is this just an empty threat?

If anyone can offer an explanation of how such an action might be legally defended, this would be very beneficial to all participants. If it really is legal, this could have serious consequences (especially if the program administration decided to do something ridiculous like change the contract to say that they can extend Phase II by an indefinite period. Based on my experience with them, I really wouldn't be all that surprised if they tried to do something like this).

recipient99 wrote:I don't see how it could possibly be legal to force the participants to comply with the terms of a contract that they didn't sign (if they change the terms of a contract, that would make it a different contract, correct?). Can anyone offer confirmation as to whether they are seriously trying to to defend this legally, or is this just an empty threat?

If anyone can offer an explanation of how such an action might be legally defended, this would be very beneficial to all participants. If it really is legal, this could have serious consequences (especially if the program administration decided to do something ridiculous like change the contract to say that they can extend Phase II by an indefinite period. Based on my experience with them, I really wouldn't be all that surprised if they tried to do something like this).

Some things don't need to be figured out until they need to be figured out. The SMART Program would like to build a relationship of trust and understanding with the participants. The SMART documentation is written to be ironclad towards the benefit of the SMART office so the DoD doesn't find itself "taken advantage of" by scheming students. But in spite of that, they have shown that they can be reasoned with. Sometimes, you just have to make it to the highest levels of DoD before wisdom prevails and a court battle is averted.

Thank you for the response and the advice.

Guest wrote:The SMART Program would like to build a relationship of trust and understanding with the participants.

If you are basing this on your personal experience with the Program, then I wager that you have had a different experience with them than I have had. "Scheming" rather than "trustworthy" or "understanding" would be a more likely term I would choose to describe how they've dealt with me.

In any case, I'm very glad to hear that you have found that they can be reasoned with. Thank you again for the response.