§2195 Department of Defense cooperative education programs

Summary

The Secretary of Defense must make sure each defense laboratory sets up cooperative work‑education programs with one or more U.S. colleges, universities, or their consortia for undergraduate and graduate students. Lab directors can hire students directly into entry‑level lab jobs and they can ignore any non‑statutory limits on authorized staff or on total personnel costs when doing so. Directors may pay students a basic salary up to the maximum rate for grade GS–9, cover up to six round trips per year between school and the lab, and pay all or part of tuition, fees, lab/library charges, materials, supplies, and books. A director may require a written agreement that the student will work at the lab for a set time in return for those payments, or may choose not to require such an agreement. The Director of the National Security Agency may give qualifying student employees free or regulated‑cost housing, without regard to section 5911(c) of title 5. A “qualifying employee” means a student working under the NSA’s Student Educational Employment Program or a similar cooperative or summer education program that meets Office of Personnel Management criteria.