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National Institute of Food and Agriculture · Department of Agriculture

Tribal Colleges Education Equity Grants Program

Open

Key facts

Deadline
Due today (Oct 7, 2026)
Award size
Up to $229K
Total available
$8M · about 35 awards
Match ?
Not required · Work out your budget and match
Who can apply
Set by the official notice: see Who can apply below
Where
Anywhere in the U.S., including Tennessee

How this fits you

  • Only tribes or Native American / Native Hawaiian organizations can apply

Tell us who you are to see whether you're eligible.

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More from National Institute of Food and Agriculture

About this grant

The TCEG program (assistance listing 10.221) is designed to help build Tribal education capacity in the food and agricultural sciences for Native Alaskan/American Indian students. This NOFO will begin a new four-year continuation funding cycle. The six legislatively mandated priorities are: • Curricula design and materials development. • Faculty development and teacher preparation. • Student experiential learning • Equipment and instrumentation for teaching science, technology, engineering, arts and math. • Student recruitment and retention. • Instruction delivery systems and strategic partnerships.

Who can apply, from the official notice

Applicants for the Tribal Colleges Education Equity Grant Program must meet all the requirements discussed in this NOFO. Failure to meet the eligibility criteria by the application deadline may result in exclusion from consideration or preclude NIFA from making an award. For those new to Federal financial assistance, NIFA’s About Grants provides highly recommended information about grants and other resources to help understand the Federal awards process. Applications may only be submitted by Tribal Colleges or Universities designated as a 1994 Land-grant Institutions (1994 institution) under the Equity Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 301note). Award recipients may subcontract to organizations not eligible to apply provided such organizations are necessary for the conduct of the project. Failure to meet an eligibility criterion by the time of application deadline may result in the application being excluded from consideration. The eligible 1994 institutions are listed below. Table 3: Eligible 1994 Institutions Aaniiih Nakoda College Bay Mills Community College Blackfeet Community College Cankdeska Cikana Community College Chief Dull Knife College College of the Menominee Nation College of the Muscogee Nation Dine’ College Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College Fort Peck Community College Haskell Indian Nations University Ilisagvik College Institute of American Indian Arts Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College Leech Lake Tribal College Little Big Horn College Little Priest Tribal College Navajo Technical University Nebraska Indian Community College Northwest Indian College Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College Oglala Lakota College Red Lake Nation College Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College Salish Kootenai College Sinte Gleska University Sisseton Wahpeton College Sitting Bull College Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute Stone Child College Tohono O’odham Community College Turtle Mountain Community College United Tribes Technical College White Earth Tribal and Community College

Ask a partner for a letter

Your schedule, working back from the deadline

  1. Oct7
    Check that your SAM.gov registration is active (or start it now)
    Grants.gov: allow up to 10 business days for SAM registration, weeks or months if information isn't verified. It must be renewed every year. Grants.gov
  2. Sep16
    Ask partners for letters of support or commitment (already past: do it now)
    Suggested: partners need about three weeks to write and sign letters.
  3. Sep30
    Finish a complete draft for a final review (already past: do it now)
    Suggested: leave about a week for someone else to read the draft.
  4. Oct5
    Submit (already past: do it now)
    Grants.gov: submit at least 24–48 hours before the deadline: uploads fail, systems slow down, errors need fixing. Grants.gov blog
  5. Oct7
    Deadline
    From the funder.

Save this grant to put these dates in My grants and your private calendar.

Writing the need statement? Warren County facts with citations.

What the official notice requires

Pulled from the official notice FY26-TCEG-NOFO-P.pdf (27 pages) so you can see the requirements at a glance. Each item shows the notice's own words. Open the page to read it in context.

Registrations you need first (1)

  • Grants.gov · p. 14
    “The electronic application for this NOFO and additional resources are available on Grants.gov and Grants 101.” Open page 14

The deadline is today. If your registration isn't already active, it may not be ready in time, so check it today. Get-ready checklist

What to submit

  • Form SF-424 · p. 15
    “Part IV Provide an accurate email address, where designated, on the SF-424 R&R.” Open page 15

Length limits

  • Word limit (see quote): 250 words max · p. 15
    “The summary is not to exceed 250 words.” Open page 15

Formatting rules

  • 1.5-spaced · p. 15
    “The PN must not exceed 12 1.5 spaced pages of written text (Times New Roman) and up to 3 1.5 spaced additional pages for figures and tables (the font size for tables should be no smaller than 11 points, Times New Roman).” Open page 15

Cost share or match

  • Cost share / match · p. 13
    “No Match Required – the TCEG Program has no matching requirement.” Open page 13
  • Cost share / match · p. 13
    “While not required, cost share is encouraged.” Open page 13

Dates in the notice

  • October 7, 2026 · p. 8
    “Standard Grants Application Deadline October 7, 2026 Grant Duration: 48 Months Anticipated # of Awards: 35 Minimum Award Amount: $228,571 Maximum Award Amount: $228,571” Open page 8

About the federal program

Tribal Colleges Education Equity Grants, also called “Higher Education Native American Formula and/or Higher Education Native American Institutions”
Program number 10.221 (the federal Assistance Listing number) · U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture · Project grant

How applications are judged

NIFA evaluates each application in a two-part process. First, each application is reviewed to ensure that it meets the administrative requirements set forth in the NOFO. Second, a peer-review process (https://www.nifa.usda.gov/nifa-peer-review-process-competitive-grant-applications) will be used to evaluate the scientific and technical merit of applications that have meet the administrative requirements. After each peer review panel has completed deliberations, the responsible NIFA program staff will either recommend an application for support from available funds or decline an application due to insufficient funds or unfavorable review.

Match

None required (federal program listing).

This program on SAM.gov

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Source: Federal grants from Grants.gov · the official federal record. Last checked by GrantMe Oct 7, 2026.

Reference numbers: official notice number USDA-NIFA-TCEG-011837 · program number 10.221