malonzo

Yes. Payment via direct deposit was the first part of this process that (for me) actually arrived slightly early. I got paid on 8/27 for a 9/1 start date but I received my application package stuff in mid-July. You're in the home stretch!

Has anyone else had to deal with the fact that 12k per year doesn't actually cover tuition and fees? At my school, it leaves me short almost 3k. The shortfall is, at the moment, being taken care of using the 5k in expenses money. That + health insurance leaves me with exactly 21 dollars for travel / supplies (which I thought was the main point of that allocation). If we had to go to the EPA-STAR conference in DC, I'd have no money to cover that. Thoughts? Mike

It seemed to me like the text was pretty clear in terms of "proof of income". One example is a table where section A is "Tuition and Fees (Paid to Institution)" and the amount (for me, at least) is $24,000. I assume this is the section you're most concerned about but the other sections are laid out in the same way but for stipend and expenses. In other news: I did not receive a "Fellowship Stipend Enrollment Form". Not sure if y'all did. It's basically just the direct deposit form. I emailed Cheryl (Grants Specialist) and she sent me one. I'd attach it here if anyone needs it or if that is even possible on this site... Mike

WTF?!?! That's all I have to say. Thanks for the heads up. I revisited the checklist page and I too received the completion email. Hopefully that gets me off the shit list.

memae: Congrats! This is the address we were given: USEPA-ORD-NCER 2777 Crystal Drive (One Potomac Yard-South Building) Room S-11323 Arlington, VA 22202 dbg6ydr: I got the same response you did from Brandon and haven't heard anything else yet. Mike

Did anyone else just an email from Brandon saying that the deadline had passed and they will give away your fellowship if you don't finish up the packet? A bit disconcerting since I received confirmation that I handed everything in more than a week ago. Ahhh.... giant, lumbering bureaucracies, a true joy to now be a cog in the system! Mike

Using the checklist that can be found by following the "Click to Begin" button is the way to ensure that everything is submitted. I sent a paranoid just-wanted-to-make-sure-you-got-this-because-there's-no-submit-button email to Andre and Brittany last week and they said it was all good; they can see when stuff's complete. Regarding sone461's comment about Direct Deposit: I didn't notice this as something that we needed to fill out right now. Is this required for today? Mike

Regarding transcripts, from Brandon this morning: "Unofficial will suffice for now. M. Brandon Jones, PhD " Mike

Re: duration of funding --- Just thinking about the funding from my very own perspective. I will graduate in one year so I assume I will only get one year of funding. Didn't mean to imply anything for others.

Hi everyone -- Long time listener first time caller. Congrats to all on the successful wait. I have received a little info from Brittany Gibau that is not the most critical stuff in the world but may be useful to some: 1. There is no EPA STAR conference in 2014. So for those of us who applied for 2 years of funding and ended up with 1 because of the delay we may not end up attending a conference at all (unless they take "alumni" in Sept of 2015) 2. The filling out of the International Travel Request Form: It was unclear to me whether we needed to fill this out if we were traveling internationally for a conference in the next 6 months but did NOT intend to use EPA funds. The answer, sensibly, is no, you do not need to fill this out. Re: official transcript: I have an email out with this question and I'll let y'all know if I hear anything. Mike

Hi -- Does anyone have a good resource for viewing successful STAR essays from previous years? Mike