Site Visit and Vacation Time

[littlehope]

Do any past recipients have any advice/information about what the site visit entail. I was curious about what to expect. I am not close enough to my SF to go by any other mode of transportation than by plane which is pricey. Not only that, the closest airport to their town is over an hour away and thus I would also need to either uber there or rent a car but I am under the age of 25 and thus it would be even more expensive. Do they reimburse you for the travel funds, give you funds ahead of time, or just expect you to handle it yourself? and the same question about accommodations/meals while there.

On a second note, I am doing a co-op this summer and you "earn" your vacation days (2 days/month) before you can take them. Does anyone that has a career already have advice on how I can go able asking for more time off. And for how long is it necessary to go on a site visit?

[mecheng]

Do any past recipients have any advice/information about what the site visit entail. I was curious about what to expect. I am not close enough to my SF to go by any other mode of transportation than by plane which is pricey. Not only that, the closest airport to their town is over an hour away and thus I would also need to either uber there or rent a car but I am under the age of 25 and thus it would be even more expensive. Do they reimburse you for the travel funds, give you funds ahead of time, or just expect you to handle it yourself? and the same question about accommodations/meals while there.

On a second note, I am doing a co-op this summer and you "earn" your vacation days (2 days/month) before you can take them. Does anyone that has a career already have advice on how I can go able asking for more time off. And for how long is it necessary to go on a site visit?

If you have any family members that are or have been in the military then you can make a free USAA banking account. Once you have a banking account you can use other services on USAA. They have a car rental service that waives the underage driver fee if you are at least 21 years old.

https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/rental_cars_main

I am in a similar situation as I was notified of the award on the first day of my internship. My last day is August 4th so I am trying to figure out a way to keep my prior commitment to the company and also satisfy the requirements for the SMART Scholarship. Although if it comes down to it, SMART is going to come first. My SF is only a few hours drive which makes it slightly better.

[Guest]

If you work any days in august you don't get the scholarship for that month. Just a heads up from what they told me

[kbl2017]

There will be a travel stipend given if you are more than 50 miles from the site. I had friends who for Pathways internships it was 50 cents per mile traveled. I imagine it is similar, that they take into account where you are visiting from and what you may need.

[mecheng]

If you work any days in august you don't get the scholarship for that month. Just a heads up from what they told me

Oh wow, really? Even just a couple of days that are a few weeks before school even starts? Well like I said, I will definitely put SMART first but I don't really see how those couple of days will even matter.

[kbl2017]

If you work any days in august you don't get the scholarship for that month. Just a heads up from what they told me

Oh wow, really? Even just a couple of days that are a few weeks before school even starts? Well like I said, I will definitely put SMART first but I don't really see how those couple of days will even matter.

I think that rule only applies to other federal agencies. Definitely email SMART about it though.

[mecheng]

If you work any days in august you don't get the scholarship for that month. Just a heads up from what they told me

Oh wow, really? Even just a couple of days that are a few weeks before school even starts? Well like I said, I will definitely put SMART first but I don't really see how those couple of days will even matter.

I think that rule only applies to other federal agencies. Definitely email SMART about it though.

Yeah I already emailed them asking about how to go about the site visit and I mentioned that my last day is August 4th.

[kbl2017]

Yeah I already emailed them asking about how to go about the site visit and I mentioned that my last day is August 4th.

I think they're going to say you have to take vacation time - I can't change mine even though it interferes with 2 of my 3 classes I'm taking

[littlehope]

If you work any days in august you don't get the scholarship for that month. Just a heads up from what they told me

That is the exact opposite of what I read on here previously. I read that as long as you are not working during the SCHOOL YEAR you are fine to work more that 16hr but as soon as classes begin you have to cut back. Then on school breaks you can go back to working more hours.

[CSMajor]

If you work any days in august you don't get the scholarship for that month. Just a heads up from what they told me

That is the exact opposite of what I read on here previously. I read that as long as you are not working during the SCHOOL YEAR you are fine to work more that 16hr but as soon as classes begin you have to cut back. Then on school breaks you can go back to working more hours.

Nope, its from the start of your contract date.

[littlehope]

Do any past recipients have any advice/information about what the site visit entail. I was curious about what to expect. I am not close enough to my SF to go by any other mode of transportation than by plane which is pricey. Not only that, the closest airport to their town is over an hour away and thus I would also need to either uber there or rent a car but I am under the age of 25 and thus it would be even more expensive. Do they reimburse you for the travel funds, give you funds ahead of time, or just expect you to handle it yourself? and the same question about accommodations/meals while there.

On a second note, I am doing a co-op this summer and you "earn" your vacation days (2 days/month) before you can take them. Does anyone that has a career already have advice on how I can go able asking for more time off. And for how long is it necessary to go on a site visit?

If you have any family members that are or have been in the military then you can make a free USAA banking account. Once you have a banking account you can use other services on USAA. They have a car rental service that waives the underage driver fee if you are at least 21 years old.

https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/rental_cars_main

I am in a similar situation as I was notified of the award on the first day of my internship. My last day is August 4th so I am trying to figure out a way to keep my prior commitment to the company and also satisfy the requirements for the SMART Scholarship. Although if it comes down to it, SMART is going to come first. My SF is only a few hours drive which makes it slightly better.

Oh thanks for pointing that out! I've been raised on USAA and will definitely look into that!

[Gandalf]

On the note of travel expenses, look at page 3 of the site visit request form. It states that a flat rate of $2,000 may be paid if you are more than 50 miles from the facility. Flat rate sounds like that's what everyone receives, but that seems quite generous for my own case.

[kbl2017]

On the note of travel expenses, look at page 3 of the site visit request form. It states that a flat rate of $2,000 may be paid if you are more than 50 miles from the facility. Flat rate sounds like that's what everyone receives, but that seems quite generous for my own case.

I'm traveling from Boston and that still seems like plenty for me to get to and from LA as well as being able to stay an extra night to visit the grad school. So that is awesome! However even if you can drive to your SF you still need a hotel room and gas!!

[guestttttt]

If you work any days in august you don't get the scholarship for that month. Just a heads up from what they told me

That is the exact opposite of what I read on here previously. I read that as long as you are not working during the SCHOOL YEAR you are fine to work more that 16hr but as soon as classes begin you have to cut back. Then on school breaks you can go back to working more hours.

Nope, its from the start of your contract date.

From experience, I was cleared for excess of 16/wk as long as I was out of school. That was several years ago though, so the rules might have changed.