Deadline: 5-Mar-24
National Institute of Food and Agriculture is seeking applications for the Higher Education Challenge Grants Program to strengthen institutional capacities, including curriculum, faculty, scientific instrumentation, instruction delivery systems, and student recruitment and retention, to respond to identified state, regional, national, or international educational needs in the food and agricultural sciences, or in rural economic, community, and business development.
HEC Program Goals
- Specifically, applications submitted to this grants program must state how the funded project will address the HEC Program Goals:
- To strengthen institutional capacities, including curriculum, faculty, scientific instrumentation, instruction delivery systems, and student recruitment and retention, to respond to identified State, regional, national, or international educational needs in the food and agricultural sciences, or in rural economic, community, and business development;
- To attract and support undergraduate and graduate students in order to educate the students in national need areas of the food and agricultural sciences or in rural economic, community, and business development;
- To facilitate cooperative initiatives between two or more eligible institutions, or between eligible institutions and units of State government or organizations in the private sector, to maximize the development and use of resources such as faculty, facilities, and equipment to improve food and agricultural sciences teaching programs, or teaching programs emphasizing rural economic, community, and business development;
- To design and implement food and agricultural sciences programs, or programs emphasizing rural, economic, community, and business development, to build teaching, research, and extension capacity at colleges and universities having significant minority enrollments;
- To conduct undergraduate scholarship programs to meet national and international needs for training food and agricultural sciences scientists and professionals, or professionals in rural economic, community, and business development;
- To increase the number and diversity of students who will pursue and complete a postsecondary degree in the food and agricultural sciences;
- To enhance the quality of instruction for baccalaureate degrees, master’s degrees, and first professional degrees in veterinary sciences, to help meet current and future workforce needs in the food and agricultural sciences; and
- To conduct graduate and postdoctoral fellowship programs to attract highly promising individuals to research or teaching careers in the food and agricultural sciences.
Strategic Goal and Priorities
- The HEC program is aligned with the following USDA Strategic Plan FY 2022-2026 goals:
- Strategic Goal 2: Ensure America’s Agricultural System is Equitable, Resilient, and Prosperous
- Strategic Goal 4: Provide All Americans Safe, Nutritious Food
- Strategic Goal 6: Attract, Inspire, and Retain an Engaged and Motivated Workforce that’s Proud to Represent USDA
- The HEC program is aligned with the following USDA Science and Research Strategy, 2023–2026 priorities:
- Priority 1: Accelerating Innovative Technologies & Practices
- Priority 2: Driving Climate-Smart Solutions
- Priority 3: Bolstering Nutrition Security & Health
- Priority 4: Cultivating Resilient Ecosystems
- Priority 5: Translating Research into Action
Funding Information
- The amount available for Higher Education Challenge Grants Program (HEC) in FY 2024 is approximately $5,055,342. USDA is not committed to fund any particular application or to make a specific number of awards.
- Award Ceiling: $750,000
- Award Floor: $30,000
Eligibility Criteria
- Applications may be submitted by:
- U.S. public or private nonprofit colleges and universities offering a baccalaureate or first professional degree in at least one discipline or area of the food and agricultural sciences;
- land-grant colleges and universities, (including land-grant institutions in the Insular Areas);
- colleges and universities having significant minority enrollments and a demonstrable
- capacity to carry out the teaching of food and agricultural sciences; and
- other colleges and universities having a demonstrable capacity to carry out the teaching of food and agricultural sciences.
- An applicant also must meet the definition of an Eligible Institution/Organization. For the purposes of this program, the individual branches of a state university or other system of higher education that are separately accredited as degree-granting institutions are treated as separate institutions and are therefore eligible for HEC awards. Separate branches or campuses of a college or university that are not individually accredited as degree-granting institutions are not treated as separate institutions. An institution eligible to receive an award under this program includes a research foundation maintained by an eligible college or university. Accreditation must be by an agency or association recognized by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.
- Cost Sharing or Matching
- No Match Required – The Higher Education Challenge Grant Program (HEC) has no matching requirement. NIFA will not factor matching resources into the review process as an evaluation criterion.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.