The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

"Once your default case has been reviewed and finalized, OUSD will notify those that qualify for the debt waiver at that time. It is a process with many levels of review, and we do not have insight into the length of time your particular case will take."

This was in response to me asking: "Upon acceptance to the DRP 2.0, would there be (for legal purposes) any signed paperwork from the SMART program/DoD stating that the debt has been waived?"

I guess I'm just confused about the whole process of how the debt gets waived if we take the DRP offer. Terrified of taking it and the DoD knocking on my door in a couple years saying I owe them hundreds of thousands of dollars...

I am curious what their response was to you?

We were all given guidance via email a few weeks after the first DRP that those that took it would not be pursued, I am assuming that would still hold true for this next round.

“In accordance with guidance issued by the Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service, the DoD will not take steps to establish a debt for failure to satisfy any service time commitments for individuals accepted into the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP). Pursuant to this guidance, any SMART scholar who was approved for the DRP will have their service commitment waived, and the SMART scholar will not be required to repay the U.S. Government for the SMART Program benefits they received through the SMART Program (i.e., no debt will be established in connection with the SMART Program). “

Does anyone know any SMART Scholars who took the first DRP? I'm really considering taking DRP 2.0, but I'm worried about the legitimacy of the debt waiver. I emailed SMART yesterday asking if there'd be anything in writing clearing my debt if I applied and was accepted to DRP, but all they gave me was some vague response.