III. AWARD INFORMATION
The number and size of awards will vary depending upon the scope of projects and subject to availability of funds. Approximately $80 - $120 million is expected
to be available annually to support approximately 50 - 90 new S-STEM Awards in these tracks.
Awards to support Track 1 (Institutional Capacity Building) projects may not exceed $1,000,000 total over a maximum duration of 6 years. Awards to support
Track 2 (Implementation: Single Institution) projects may not exceed $2,500,000 total over a maximum duration of 6 years. Awards to support Track 3 (Interinstitutional Consortia) projects may not exceed $5,000,000 total over a maximum duration of 6 years. The level of funding requested should be based on the
actual number of low-income students in the disciplines targeted, focus and scope of the effort. Awards to support Collaborative Planning grants may not exceed
$100,000 total for up to one year.
IV. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION
Who May Submit Proposals:
Proposals may only be submitted by the following:
Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) - Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus
located in the US, acting on behalf of their faculty members. Special Instructions for International Branch Campuses of US IHEs: If
the proposal includes funding to be provided to an international branch campus of a US institution of higher education (including
through use of subawards and consultant arrangements), the proposer must explain the benefit(s) to the project of performance at
the international branch campus, and justify why the project activities cannot be performed at the US campus.
Who May Serve as PI:
For Track 1 (Institutional Capacity Building) and Track 2 (Implementation: Single Institution) projects, the Principal Investigator must be (a) a
faculty member currently teaching in an S-STEM eligible discipline, or (b) an academic administrator who has taught in an S-STEM eligible
discipline in the past two years. The Principal Investigator must be able to provide the leadership and time required to ensure the success of
the project. Projects involving more than one department within an institution are eligible, but a single Principal Investigator must accept
overall management and leadership responsibility. Faculty from all departments involved need to have roles in the project as either CoPrincipal Investigators, senior personnel or scholar mentors. Other members of the S-STEM project senior leadership and management team
may be listed as Co-Principal Investigators.
For Track 3 (Inter-institutional Consortia) projects, the Principal Investigator must be (a) a faculty member currently teaching in an S-STEM
eligible discipline, (b) an academic administrator who has taught an S-STEM eligible discipline in the past two years, or (c) a non-teaching
institutional, educational, or social science researcher investigating questions related to low-income student success. The Principal
Investigator must be able to provide the leadership and time required to ensure the success of the project. Track 3 consortium proposals must
have a Principal Investigator who accepts overall management and leadership responsibility across all consortia members. Faculty from all
institutions and departments involved need to have roles in the project as either Co-Principal investigators, senior personnel or scholar
mentors. Other members of the S-STEM project senior leadership and management team may be listed as Co-Principal Investigators or as
Principal Investigators on collaborative research proposals.
Collaborative Planning grants are intended to help a collection of institutions plan for a future Inter-institutional Track 3 proposal. For
Collaborative Planning grants, the Principal Investigator must be (a) a faculty member teaching in any S-STEM eligible discipline, or (b) a
STEM administrator (department head or above) at one of the institutions within the envisioned inter-institutional consortia, or (c) a nonteaching institutional, educational, or social science researcher investigating questions related to low-income student success. The Principal
Investigator on a Collaborative Planning grant must demonstrate the capacity to convene and lead a team of inter-institutional S-STEM eligible
faculty, social science or educational researchers, and administrators focused on low-income student success to write the desired proposal in
a 1-year timeframe.
Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 2
An institution may submit up to two proposals (either as a single institution or as a subawardee or a member of an inter-institutional consortia
project (lead or co-lead) for a given S-STEM deadline. Multiple proposals from an institution must not overlap with regard to S-STEM eligible
disciplines. See Additional Eligibility Information below for more details (see IV. Eligibility Information).
Institutions with a current S-STEM award should wait at least until the end of the third year of execution of their current award before
submitting a new S-STEM proposal focused on students pursuing degrees in the same discipline(s).
9
The above restrictions do not apply to collaborative planning grant proposals.
Limit on Number of Proposals per PI or co-PI:
There are no restrictions or limits.
Additional Eligibility Info:
A. Institutions
An institution that is part of a larger system is considered separate for proposal submission purposes if it is geographically separate from the
other campus(es) and has its own chief academic officer. The address of the place of performance on the NSF cover sheet should be different
as well.
Institutions with current active S-STEM awards should not submit a new proposal focusing on the same student population until after the third
year of execution has been completed and the corresponding annual report approved. For example, if in Fiscal Year 2020 an institution was
awarded an S-STEM grant for undergraduate scholarships for students pursuing a BA in Mathematics, the institution should wait until Fiscal
Year 2023 to submit a new S-STEM proposal focused on the same population of students.
B. Scholarship Recipients
S-STEM scholarship recipients (i.e., S-STEM scholars) will be selected by the awardee institution(s), but recipients must:
Be citizens of the United States, nationals of the United States (as defined in section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act),
aliens admitted as refugees under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, or aliens lawfully admitted to the United States
for permanent residence. Please note that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) individuals are ineligible for support from
this solicitation unless they meet the requirements listed in the first sentence of this bullet by the time of application;
Be enrolled at least half-time as defined by the institution in a program leading to an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate S-STEM
eligible degree in an S-STEM eligible discipline;
Demonstrate academic ability or potential as defined by the institution;
Be low-income. The definition of low-income must follow the institutional guidelines for income thresholds that qualify the student as
low-income (for example, see eligibility requirements for the US Department of Education (DOE) Pell
[https://www2.ed.gov/programs/fpg/index.html] and TRIOS grant [http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/trio/incomelevels.html]
programs or for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) public housing program
[https://www.hud.gov/topics/rental_assistance/phprog]. For graduate students, the institution should define guidelines either based on
prior eligibility as an undergraduate student or the establishment of the individual as independent from the student's parents and the
calculation of the independent student total income. The institution's definition of low-income must be included in supplementary
documents within the letter from the Financial Aid Office.
Have demonstrated unmet financial need. Demonstrated financial need for undergraduate students is defined by the US Department
of Education rules for need-based Federal financial aid Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), or, for graduate students, it
is defined as financial eligibility for Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN). In the case of S-STEM, institutions are
required to follow the calculations in section II.B that include other grants, fellowships and scholarships but not loans (see
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/next-steps/how-calculated#need-based). Income from potential work study should not be included
in the calculation for undergraduate students. In the case of graduate students, payment for work associated with their own research
can be included. Loans should not be included in calculations of unmet need for either undergraduate or graduate students.
