II. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
A. Overview
The S-STEM program provides institutions of higher education (IHEs) with funds for scholarships to encourage and enable domestic low-income students with
academic ability, talent or potential and demonstrated financial need to enter the US workforce following completion of associate, baccalaureate, or graduate
degrees in S-STEM eligible disciplines. To enable social mobility of these students with academic talent, funds should be allocated to support scholars in areas
of regional or national need. Funds also enable IHEs to establish a coherent ecosystem of effective evidence-based practices (curricular and co-curricular
activities taking place during the academic year and over the summer and winter break months if appropriate) and to assess the effects of those practices and
other factors on retention, student success, academic/career pathways, and degree attainment, including transfer, and entry into the US workforce or graduate
programs in STEM. See Section IV.B.2 for details on some common elements of all Track 1, 2 and 3 proposals and Section V.A.11 for additional details on
required supplementary documents.
S-STEM awards in Tracks 1, 2 and 3 facilitate the establishment of infrastructure and collaborations to: (1) provide scholarships to domestic low-income
academically promising students with demonstrated financial need pursuing a degree in one of the S-STEM eligible disciplines; (2) adapt and implement
evidence-based curricular and co-curricular activities to support NSF S-STEM scholars; (3) increase retention, student success, and graduation of these lowincome students in STEM; (4) test strategies for systematically supporting student academic and career pathways in STEM in ways that are congruent with the
institutional context and resources; and (5) disseminate findings on what works related to the supports and interventions undertaken by the project, in particular
to other institutions working to support low-income STEM students.
In addition to providing funds for scholarships, the S-STEM program also supports the implementation and testing of an ensemble of existing effective evidencebased curricular and co-curricular activities featuring: (1) close involvement of faculty in S-STEM eligible disciplines, (2) one-on-one mentoring for students, (3)
provisions and adaptation of activities that support student success, including the formation of student cohorts and other effective practices (e.g., student support
services; professional and workforce development activities), (4) covering of academic expenses that become barriers for success for low-income students (e.g.,
graduation fees, standardize testing fees, graduate school application fees, etc.)
Proposals with a strong focus on workforce development are encouraged to partner with business, industry, local community organizations, national labs, or
other federal or state government organizations to provide appropriate opportunities to scholars, including but not limited to internships, research and servicelearning activities and other opportunities above and beyond the financial support provided through scholarships.
B. Description of Program Tracks
1. S-STEM Tracks
The following sections describe each track differences:
Track 1 (Institutional Capacity Building)
Track 1 projects seek to increase the participation of institutions that have never had an award from the S-STEM program or the STEM Talent Expansion
(STEP) program. This requirement applies to the institution as a whole. A prior S-STEM or STEP award to any department or school within the institution makes
the entire institution ineligible for a Track 1 award.
Track 1 projects must be led by a PI who is (a) a faculty member currently teaching in one of the S-STEM eligible disciplines being pursued by the targeted
scholars, or (b) an academic administrator who has taught in one of the eligible disciplines within the two years prior to submission and can dedicate the time
necessary to assure project success. The PI must be a member of the proposed project's leadership and management team. The leadership and management
team should also include a STEM administrator (department head or above). Faculty members from all departments or academic units involved should have a
role in the project either as Co-PIs, senior personnel, or scholar mentors. The project team could include, if appropriate, a non-teaching institutional, educational,
or social science researcher to support evidence-based responses to items raised by the external evaluator through formative evaluation.
This additional
researcher cannot take the place of the external evaluator.
Track 1 proposals may also include a focus on student transfer or progression to graduate school. In this case, if needed, two or more institutions could partner.
Both institutions should be eligible for Track 1 award.
Track 1 proposals may request up to $1,000,000 total for up to 6 years.
Track 2 (Implementation: Single Institution)
Track 2 proposals have the same S-STEM goals as Track 1 proposals. They generally involve and benefit only one institution, but they will serve more scholars
than Track 1 proposals. Any IHE (as described under the eligibility section) can submit a Track 2 proposal, whether or not the institution has received prior SSTEM or STEP awards.
Track 2 proposals may, in some cases, also include a focus on student transfer or progression to graduate school. In this case, if needed, two or more
institutions could partner.
Track 2 projects must be led by a PI who is (a) a faculty member currently teaching in one of the S-STEM eligible disciplines being pursued by the targeted
scholars, or (b) an academic administrator who has taught in one of the eligible disciplines in the last two years from submission and can dedicate the time
necessary to assure project success. The PI must be a member of the proposed project's leadership and management team. The leadership and management
team should also include a STEM administrator (department head or above). Faculty members from all departments or academic units involved should have a
role in the project either as Co-PIs, senior personnel, or scholar mentors.
The project team could include, if appropriate, a non-teaching institutional, educational,
or social science researcher to support evidence-based responses to items raised by the external evaluator through formative evaluation. This additional
researcher cannot take the place of the external evaluator.
Proposals for Track 2 may request up to $2,500,000 total for up to 6 years.
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Track 3 (Inter-institutional Consortia)
Track 3 projects support multi-institutional collaborations that focus on a common interest or challenge. Inter-institutional Consortia projects represent diverse
collaborations, including partnerships between 2-year colleges and 4-year colleges and universities, between 4-year colleges and graduate programs, or
between comparable institutions looking to implement and study parallel interventions. For example, a collaboration among community colleges and four-year
institutions may focus on issues associated with successful transfer of low-income students from 2-year institutions to 4-year programs. In another example, a
multi-institutional collaboration may focus on factors that contribute to the success or degree attainment of domestic, low-income students in different types of
institutions.
Proposals with a strong focus on the transfer or advancement of students from one educational level to another should collaborate with appropriate institutional
partners. For example, proposals focused on the transfer of students from 2-year institutions to 4-year institutions should include faculty and administrators from
2-year institutions and 4-year institutions in the leadership team; likewise, proposals focusing on the advancement of undergraduate students at predominately
undergraduate institutions to graduate programs should include institutions, administrators and Co-PIs representing both the undergraduate programs and the
receiving graduate programs.
Track 3 projects have the same overall goals as Track 1 and 2 projects but seek to accomplish these goals at a very large scale by leveraging multi-institutional
efforts and infrastructure.
In addition to the expectations stated below in section II.B.2 for all tracks, Track 3 projects are also expected to:
Establish an authentic, strong and mutually beneficial collaboration across all institutions involved in the consortia, providing comparable benefits to all
institutions in terms of number of scholarships as well as in the infrastructure established to serve low-income students;
Establish strong technical assistance and processes that support and manage project activities across institutions involved in the collaborative effort.
Engage in high quality educational or social sciences research to advance understanding of how to adapt, implement and scale up effective evidencebased programs and practices designed to foster positive outcomes for low-income students in STEM.
NSF does not favor a particular research design over others.
How the chosen research methods and approaches are aligned with and appropriate for the
research goals should be fully explained in the proposal. The ultimate goal of S-STEM is to support low-income students with awards covering their unmet need,
up to the maximum allowable scholarship amount (whatever is less). Projects are strongly discouraged from allowing a desired sample size to play a role in the
determination of the size of awarded scholarships.
Track 3 projects are managed by leadership and management teams composed of faculty members who are currently teaching in an S-STEM eligible
discipline(s), STEM administrators, and non-teaching institutional, educational, or social science researchers. The PI of Track 3 proposals must be either (a) a
faculty member currently teaching in one of the S-STEM eligible disciplines, (b) a STEM administrator (department head or above), or (c) a non-teaching
researcher whose expertise is in institutional, educational, or social science research in higher education. Faculty from all the institutions and disciplines involved
need to be included in the leadership team and/or senior personnel. The lead PI needs to demonstrate the capacity, experience and resources needed to
manage a complex, large-scale project and the necessary time to dedicate to assure project success.
Track 3 proposals may request up to $5 million total for up to 6 years.
Proposers should be aware that Track 3 projects will be formally reviewed by NSF during their third year to determine whether satisfactory progress has been
made, with continued funding contingent on the result of the third-year review. See section VII.C on reporting requirements.
Collaborative Planning Grants to Develop an Inter-institutional Consortium
Collaborative Planning projects provide support for groups of two or more IHEs and other potential partner organizations to establish fruitful collaborations,
increase understanding of complex issues faced by low-income students at each institution, establish inter-institutional agreements when necessary and develop
mechanisms for cooperation in anticipation of a future Track 3 proposal that will benefit all institutions and their scholars as equal partners.
This category of projects aims to provide proposers from two or more institutions the funds and time to establish the relationships and agreements necessary for
submitting an Inter-institutional Consortia S-STEM proposal. It is expected that proposers will be ready to write and submit this Inter-institutional Consortia
proposal within 1-2 years of receiving a Collaborative Planning grant award. Any subsequent proposals to S-STEM based on this work must describe the results
of the planning effort.
Collaborative Planning grants can address the formation of institutional partnerships that might result in a stronger Track 3 proposal. Ideally, planning grants
should reflect authentic collaborations between institutions, prepare collaborative partners to award scholarships at all collaborating institutions and provide
programming according to each institution's needs assessment and realities.
A Collaborative Planning grant should allow institutions to gather data, design shared mechanisms for data collection and student support, and establish the
necessary memorandum of understanding (MOUs) or articulation agreements to facilitate students' transition between institutions and ultimate success. PIs
should propose approaches they feel are appropriate to uncover the needs across institutions in their specific contexts. Surveys, focus groups, interviews, etc.,
can also be included in the planning grant as mechanisms to understand the needs of students. Needs assessment results should guide the team to propose a
set of interventions in their future Track 3 proposal. Furthermore, Collaborative Planning proposals must include the following elements in the project description:
what is already known about all potential partner institutions;
the planning grant goals;
name of the individuals and offices that will be approached at each institution and description of the potential contributions of collaborators representing
multiple perspectives;
the steps to build effective collaborations to achieve the project goals (needs assessment, articulation agreements; meetings, etc.);
the steps and actions to further refine and develop the future S-STEM Track 3 proposal, including how programmatic details will be decided (the
interventions, the definition of the scholarship eligibility requirements based on institutional data; establishment of scholarship amounts, and methods),
leveraging the expertise of the collaborators;
narrative of how the development of the collaboration will lead to a stronger future Track 3 proposal, and;
a mechanism to assess the collaborative planning effort's progress towards its stated goals.
Collaborative planning grants are managed by a PI who is either (a) a faculty member teaching in any S-STEM eligible discipline, (b) STEM administrator
(department head of above) at one of the institutions within the envisioned inter-institutional consortia, or (c) a non-teaching researcher whose expertise is in
institutional, educational, or social science research in higher education. The PI must provide the required leadership and the capacity to convene and lead a
team of inter-institutional STEM faculty and social science or education researchers to write the desired proposal in a 1-2-year timeframe. A successful Track 3
proposal will likely require a range of expertise including STEM faculty and administrators at all institutions, financial aid officers, and education, learning science
or social science researchers interested in low-income student success or other pertinent topics. It is ideal that management of the planning grant incorporate
the appropriate senior personnel across institutions as needed. Planning grants can also speak to potential gaps in expertise that might hinder a forthcoming
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Track 3 proposal and work to identify and build relationships with qualified individuals or organizations that would enhance the impact of future collaborative
efforts.
Please note that the Collaborative Planning Grant proposals described in this solicitation are a solicitation-specific project category and are separate and distinct
from the type of proposal described in Chapter II.F.1 of the PAPPG. When preparing a Collaborative Planning Grant proposal in response to this solicitation, the
"Research" type of proposal should be selected in Research.gov or Grants.gov.
2. Common Elements of Track 1, Track 2 and Track 3 proposals
The following principles and expectations apply to submissions to Track 1 (Institutional Capacity Building), Track 2 (Implementation: Single Institution), and
Track 3 (Inter-institutional Consortia).
Proposers should read this section as information emphasizing important aspects not to be overlooked and
complementary to the content sections in V.A.5 (Project Description).
Degrees in areas of regional or national need: Proposers must provide evidence that the degrees to be awarded to scholars are in an area of need for the
regional or national STEM workforce. Evidence should also be presented indicating that there will be a sufficient number of rewarding positions available for
them in the U.S. STEM workforce upon graduation with an undergraduate or graduate degree. Proposers must use publicly available data-driven information to
justify their arguments to this effect. A number of statistical resources published by the Department of Labor, the National Center for Science and Engineering
Statistics (NCSES), the Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department, among others, are available to assist proposers in making a case (see
Section V.A.11 Supplementary Documentation, for suggestions on sources of information).
Scholar Eligibility Criteria: See Section IV. Additional Eligibility Information, B. Scholarship Recipients, for additional details for both undergraduate and
graduate students.
Evidence-based, context-specific interventions must be linked to low-income student needs: All projects must build their project on needs analyses
specific to the targeted population of low-income students in the proposed disciplines. See Section V.A.5.a. for additional information on how to establish student
needs.
Scholar Cohorts and Faculty Mentoring:
Educational research has established the importance of mentoring and cohort formation for low-income students.
These efforts provide important touchpoints for scholars that can foster a sense of belonging and provide academic support. To this end, IHEs are expected to
develop, support, and maintain S-STEM scholar cohorts and provide each scholar with at least one faculty mentor.
Cohorts should be formed in a way to enable scholars to support each other academically and socially. Thus, a proposal that aims to provide scholarships to
students from different academic units or departments, should ensure that a reasonable number of scholars share substantial coursework to study together as
well as other experiences outside the classroom. Proposals should also ensure that there are enough faculty mentors with sufficient expertise to provide support
to scholars within any proposed discipline- or major.
Involvement of Office of Financial Aid and Other Campus Partners: Successful Track 1, 2, and 3 projects must involve the Office of Financial Aid. Each
institution that will award scholarships must submit a letter from the Office of Financial Aid certifying the Office's understanding of the guidelines and
requirements of the S-STEM program, confirming the institutional definition of low income, that the eligible students will meet its definition of low income, and
stating their commitment to support the project as described in the proposal if awarded. Internal partnerships with other offices or departments could also be
included as appropriate, such as residential life, student services, tutoring centers, institutional research, and diversity,
equity, and inclusion.
Determination of Scholarship Amounts: The scholarships awarded are expected to reduce the need for students to work or increase their debt during the
academic year. This is determined by the cost of attendance defined at the institutional level, which generally includes not only tuition and fees but other costs
such as room and board, fees, textbooks, transportation, laptops, etc. The established maximum amount of an individual scholarship is $15,000 per year for
undergraduate students and $20,000 per year for graduate students. In all cases, the maximum duration of any scholarship is for up to 5 years at each institution
that an individual scholar attends or at each academic level.
Any S-STEM scholarship should be treated as a "last dollar scholarship" intended to be paid after all other grants and scholarships for which the student
qualifies have been awarded; the calculation is based on the gap between what aid has been awarded and what aid is still needed to help a student meet the
cost of attendance fully.
This is an individual calculation to be performed by the Office of Financial Aid. Projects that plan to provide the same dollar amount to
each scholar do not meet the above requirement, but proposers should use an anticipated average award per scholar for budgeting purposes. Scholars should
receive a scholarship to cover their actual unmet need or the maximum allowable scholarship amount, whatever is less. See section V.A.5.b for more details on
cost of attendance, and how to calculate scholarship amounts based on each individual scholar's unmet need.
Analysis of Prospective Scholar Pool: All Track 1, 2, and 3 proposals must analyze institutional data at all pertinent institutions to determine the potential
number of eligible scholars. The analysis should include information from the Financial Aid offices of all involved institutions and describe the calculation method
used to determine the number of students who meet all the eligibility criteria presented in the specific disciplines covered by the proposal. NSF understands that
this analysis must rely on current student data and hence may only serve as an estimate of the prospective pool of future scholars.
Describing the general characteristics of the overall population of the institution's low-income students is insufficient to meet this analytical requirement. Instead,
the low-income data must be specific to the population of students in the disciplines targeted who meet all the eligibility requirements, both financial and
academic, specified in the proposal. The goal is to deduce how many students would qualify for the scholarships at the time of proposal submission and provide
justification for academic eligibility requirements imposed by the institution.
Additional Budget Guidelines: In all Track 1, 2 and 3 proposals, at least 60% of all funds must be provided solely as pure scholarships to cover the cost of
attendance and entered as Participant Support – Stipends (Line F1) on the NSF budget form.
Support for all non-scholarship costs must be included in the remaining 40% of the budget. See additional budget guidelines in section V.A.8.
Additional participation requirements in other project activities: Opportunities for extracurricular activities are valuable components of S-STEM projects that
can be strongly encouraged but cannot be required. S-STEM projects often include enhancements such as seminars, graduate school application workshops,
field trips, student-faculty interaction outside classes, research opportunities, tutoring, and internships. Still, the primary criteria for continued scholarship
eligibility should be satisfactory progress towards degree or successful transfer.
Under no circumstances should the scholarship funds be structured as
compensation for either work or participation in other project activities. Compensation for non-credit-bearing summer experiences, such as research or
internships should come from the 40% non-scholarship funds, and paid to the scholar.
Knowledge Generation and Dissemination: Track 1 (Institutional Capacity Building) and Track 2 (Implementation: Single Institution) proposals require a
strong evaluation plan, but do not require an additional research component. In contrast, Track 3 (Inter-institutional Consortia) proposals must include both a
strong evaluation plan and a strong research component. See additional details in section V.A.5.h.
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Student data collection: S-STEM projects (Track 1, 2 and 3) are required to participate in regular NSF-led data collection activities to follow student progress
as specified in section VII. C of Reporting Requirements.
Outreach to certain groups:
Although a project may conduct targeted recruiting efforts to reach specific student populations, every applicant who meets the
given academic and financial eligibility requirements must receive equal consideration for a scholarship. If needed, the program encourages projects to establish
outreach programs that reach a diverse applicant pool that is inclusive of, but not limited to, members of underrepresented groups in STEM (e.g., African
Americans and other Blacks, Hispanics and other Latinos, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, persons with
disabilities, first generation, persons from rural areas, veterans, and in some STEM disciplines, women), with the broad aim of supporting domestic low-income
students with academic ability, talent or potential and demonstrated financial need to obtain degrees and enter into the STEM workforce or graduate studies.
However, no other criteria than the one specified in section IV.B under Additional Eligibility Criteria should be used to select scholars.
