Draper Fellowship

usafa2011dad · 09-10-2009, 07:52 PM

anyone out there can shed light on how things work if a cadet is awarded the draper fellowship?

1. Does it increase commitment time?
2. Do cadets get paid their salary while attending postgraduate school?
3. How long is the program if they go to Rice? 1 year, 2 years?
4. How does the Rice program differ from the MIT program?

Thanks if anybody knows.

hornetguy · 09-28-2009, 02:58 PM

Wow, didn't see this till now, I can answer.

1. Commitment for grad school is 2 years per one year of school and concurrent with the USAFA commitment. This means you can do up to 18 months with no extra commitment, 2 year degrees tack on one extra year of time.
2. As LTs, we make full O-1 pay with BAH/BAS at grad school
3. I believe the Draper for both MIT and Rice is 2 years.
4 Rice is more NASA/space based and MIT is more instruments based IIRC.

usafa2011dad · 09-29-2009, 06:40 PM

Thanks Hornet. I figured you might be the one on here that would know.

Seemed like you vanished for a while though.

All in all, the draper at RICE would be a pretty sweet deal then. Paid for 100% plus salary and the BAH/BAS. I think Draper pays a stipend too, although I haven't been able to find any amounts anywhere.

bulletandpima · 10-05-2009, 09:34 AM

I would believe if they pay a stipend it would be to pay for the books, which I would not consider it a monthly stipend, but 2x a yr. I could be totally wrong,, but that would be my guess. For example I bet if you get the Rhodes, you will also get COLA, due to the exchange rate of the Euro/pound vs dollar.

newmassdad · 10-05-2009, 07:06 PM

FYI the Rhodes pays out in pounds, so no COLA. OTOH, since all of a scholar's expenses are also in pounds, such as rent for a room, or food, COLA is irrelevant. The Rhodes folks tend to adjust the stipend anyway. They are also good at funding additional years beyond two.

hornetguy · 10-05-2009, 08:21 PM

But the military pay is in dollars, so there may be a COLA for THAT.

bulletandpima · 10-06-2009, 11:54 AM

Exactly, whether you have housing or not, the military adjusts their pay according to the conversion rate, since they expect that you will be spending on the economy for normal everyday life. Caveat, COLA does depend on living "on campus" or the economy. You will get COLA either way, it is just the amount will be different. They want to make sure that the base salary for a LT in the UK is comparable to a LT stateside. This also explains why high COL's stateside assignments also get COLA. It is to put every one on the same field.

Problem with COLA overseas is the lag time seems to be long when the dollar is weak, but incredibly short when the dollar is strong.

Since this is a military assignment the funding of 2 yrs past that is a non-factor. Military members do not have the luxury to say I want to continue without getting the approval from the military. If the military elects to allow them to continue, they will pick up the tab.

usafa2011dad · 10-06-2009, 05:07 PM

from the wording on the draper website, it seems like it is a monthly stipend. But then again, maybe it isn't.

"What is the Draper Fellow monthly stipend?
The monthly stipend changes every year, varies by university, and depends on the degree level of the student. The stipend rates are set by the universities, not by Draper Laboratory. Check with the Education Office for current rates. In all cases, however, tuition is fully covered by the Laboratory for a Draper Fellow."