NSF Noyce: Tracks, Eligibility, Service Rules

The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (NSF Noyce) is a National Science Foundation program that funds institutions, not individuals, so they can recruit and prepare STEM teachers for high-need school districts. Students and teachers do not apply to NSF; they apply to a campus or partner that holds a Noyce award. Everything below is as described on the official NSF pages on 2026-10-29, which are listed under Sources. On that date the program page shows the status “Waiting for new publication” and the solicitation page says it is not currently accepting proposals, so the figures here describe the most recent solicitation, NSF 23-586, and not an open call.

What it is and who runs it

Noyce is run by NSF’s Directorate for STEM Education, Division of Undergraduate Education, under solicitation NSF 23-586 (assistance listing 47.076, STEM Education). That solicitation was posted May 11, 2023 and replaced NSF 21-578. Its stated aim is to recruit, prepare and retain highly effective K-12 STEM teachers and teacher leaders who persist as classroom teachers in high-need local education agencies (LEAs, also called high-need school districts).

Who applies: institutions or individuals?

Institutions. The solicitation lists institutions of higher education (two- and four-year) and nonprofit organizations as eligible submitters. Professional societies and similar organizations associated with educational or research activities may submit only to Track 4 (Noyce Research). The people who receive money, such as scholars, stipend recipients and fellows, are selected by the funded project under its own recruitment and selection process.

How the solicitation changed over time

The program has run through successive solicitations, and 23-586 replaced 21-578, which had itself replaced NSF 17-541. Campus Noyce pages written for an earlier solicitation can describe superseded terms. One example: Capacity Building awards were listed at up to $75,000 in NSF 21-578 and at up to $100,000 for one year in NSF 23-586.

Eligibility (summary, with the official source)

Submitting organizations: institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations; Track 4 also admits professional societies or similar organizations. There is no limit on the number of proposals per organization or per PI or co-PI.
Project team: for Tracks 1 to 3, the PI team must include at least one STEM faculty member with an advanced STEM degree housed in a STEM department and at least one education faculty member. For Track 4, it must include a person with STEM education research expertise and a person with an advanced STEM degree.
Individual recipients: U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals or permanent resident aliens. People who have previously served as a K-12 teacher are not eligible for scholarship or stipend support.
Eligible majors: Noyce-eligible STEM majors are identified by Classification of Instructional Programs code. The solicitation names biological sciences (CIP 26), computer sciences (11), engineering (14), mathematics and statistics (27) and physical sciences (40) and related fields. It does not provide cost of attendance support for agriculture, business, education or health professions majors unless they are paired with a Noyce-eligible STEM major in a double major.
Cost sharing: the solicitation states that inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited.

What it funds or requires

Table 1 of NSF 23-586 sets out the funding categories. The service obligations below are what the solicitation requires of individuals who receive scholarship, stipend or fellowship support.

Track	Award ceiling and duration	Who is supported	Teaching service commitment
Track 1: Scholarships and Stipends (S&S)	Up to $1,200,000, up to 5 years	Noyce-eligible STEM undergraduates (junior status or above) and STEM professionals	Scholarship: 2 years of full-time STEM teaching in a high-need LEA for each full year of support, within 8 years. Stipend: 2 years, within 4 years of certification.
Track 2: Teaching Fellowships (TF)	Up to $3,000,000, up to 6 years	STEM professionals completing a master’s degree with certification or licensure	4 years of full-time STEM teaching in a high-need LEA, within 6 years of finishing the master’s degree
Track 3: Master Teaching Fellowships (MTF)	Up to $3,000,000, up to 6 years	Experienced, exemplary STEM teachers becoming teacher leaders	5 years of full-time STEM teaching in a high-need LEA (4 years for Master Teaching Fellows with only a bachelor’s degree), within 7 years of starting, plus a leadership role
Track 4: Noyce Research	Up to $1,000,000, up to 5 years	Research on the effectiveness and retention of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need districts	Not applicable
Capacity Building	Up to $100,000, 1 year	Institutions preparing a future Noyce submission	Not applicable

Money amounts for individuals are floors, not ceilings. Scholarships and stipends must be $10,000 or more, capped at the cost of attendance. Teaching Fellows must also receive an annual salary supplement of $10,000 or more for each of the four years of the commitment, and the high-need LEA must agree not to reduce the base salary while the supplement is paid. Track 1 proposals have the option of including salary supplements under Dear Colleague Letter NSF 23-123. For Tracks 2 and 3, the $3,000,000 ceiling covers up to 5 years for one cohort or 6 years for two cohorts. The solicitation lists anticipated funding of $68,000,000 and 60 to 77 awards in total, subject to availability of funds.

Application or compliance steps

Choose the track and confirm partners. Track 1 requires a partnership with at least one high-need LEA and a public school it serves for clinical teaching, plus an institution of higher education. Tracks 2 and 3 also require at least one nonprofit partner with demonstrated capacity; institutions of higher education, K-12 schools and school districts cannot serve as that nonprofit partner.
Confirm the high-need LEA definition. The solicitation ties it to poverty and teacher-quality criteria; one poverty option is that not less than 20 percent of the children served are from low-income families.
Prepare the proposal under the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide. Letters of intent and preliminary proposals are not required. The Project Description for Tracks 1 to 3 must not exceed 15 pages and must include a separate Broader Impacts section.
Submit through Research.gov or Grants.gov by 5 p.m. submitting organization’s local time. The solicitation lists a first deadline of August 29, 2023 and then the last Tuesday in August annually thereafter; those dates belong to the superseded cycle and are not a current deadline.
Plan for award obligations. Funded projects administer scholarships, stipends or fellowships and the recipient obligations, including the repayment terms if a teaching service commitment is not fulfilled. Additional reporting requirements apply, as set out in the full solicitation.

Typical timeline phases

The solicitation describes the sequence rather than a calendar: full proposal submitted by the annual deadline; review by reviewers or a panel using the two National Science Board merit review criteria, Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts; a Program Officer recommendation to the Division Director; administrative review by the Division of Grants and Agreements; and award notification to the submitting organization. NSF states that it strives, as a target and not a guarantee, to tell applicants whether proposals are declined or recommended for funding within six months. After an award, the project recruits and selects its scholars or fellows, who then complete the program and begin the teaching service period.

Common mistakes

Treating a campus Noyce page as the rules. Terms such as award ceilings changed between solicitations; work from the solicitation that applies to your submission.
Expecting individuals to apply to NSF. Scholars and fellows apply to the funded project.
Assuming any STEM-adjacent major counts. Eligibility follows the CIP-based list, and education and health professions majors are excluded unless double-majoring in an eligible STEM field.
Using an old deadline. The August dates in 23-586 describe a cycle that NSF has since marked as awaiting a new solicitation.
Using a higher education institution as the nonprofit partner in Track 2 or Track 3, which the solicitation does not allow.

These NSF programs also fund institutions to serve students or educators. The rows below summarise CASRAI’s own guides, each based on the official NSF program pages checked on 2026-10-29.

Program	What it funds	CASRAI guide
NSF S-STEM (NSF 25-514)	Institutions that award scholarships to academically talented, low-income STEM students	NSF S-STEM guide
NSF RET (NSF 24-503)	Summer research experiences for K-14 educators hosted by university and college teams	NSF RET guide
NSF NRT (NSF 24-597)	Interdisciplinary graduate training programs; NSF lists it as awaiting a new solicitation	NSF NRT guide

FAQ

What is NSF Noyce?

NSF Noyce is the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, an NSF program that funds institutions to prepare STEM teachers for high-need school districts through scholarships, stipends, fellowships and research.

Can an individual apply directly to NSF for a Noyce scholarship?

No. NSF awards go to institutions and nonprofits; individuals are selected by the funded project.

Is Noyce accepting proposals now?

As of 2026-10-29, the NSF program page shows the status “Waiting for new publication” and the solicitation page says it is not currently accepting proposals.

How long is the teaching commitment?

It depends on the track: two years for each full year of scholarship support in Track 1, four years in Track 2 and five years in Track 3, all as full-time STEM teaching in a high-need LEA.

Sources

NSF 23-586, Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program solicitation, National Science Foundation, checked 2026-10-29.
Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, program page, National Science Foundation, checked 2026-10-29.
NSF 21-578, archived solicitation, National Science Foundation, checked 2026-10-29 (Capacity Building figure).

NSF Noyce: Tracks, Eligibility and Service Obligations

What it is and who runs it