The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

I am having trouble finding out what happens to SMART fellows during the government shutdown. Most of the posts on this forum from the last shutdown concern Phase 2 people and those worried about getting hired. Does anyone know if Phase 1 people are furloughed?

armyphase1 wrote:I am having trouble finding out what happens to SMART fellows during the government shutdown. Most of the posts on this forum from the last shutdown concern Phase 2 people and those worried about getting hired. Does anyone know if Phase 1 people are furloughed?

As far as I know we are unaffected by the government shutdown. LMI is a contractor not a government agency, so it should still be operating and awarding funds.

A prolonged shutdown may affect hiring or cause furloughs in Phase 2, but many sponsoring facilities actually have funding contracted through 1.5 years, so the shutdown does not immediately affect day to day. SMART is exempt from all hiring freezes that might result from a shutdown.

The most likely way that the shutdown will affect Phase 1 scholars is that it will stop progress on background checks.

I got furloughed yesterday by my sponsoring facility, but I am not aware that anything with SMART was affected.

As of late 2025, approximately:

≈ 100 million U.S. residents
— about 30 % of the population —
are either not currently receiving a paycheck (due to the government shutdown) or are supported primarily by major welfare/safety-net programs.

pretty obvious to me. THIS AINT GOOD!!!