Higher Education Challenge Grants Program

Solomon Haile
615.517.4157
Solomon.Haile@usda.gov

Cierra Campbell
786.848.8587
Cierra.Campbell@usda.gov

The Higher Education Challenge Grants Program offers grants to colleges and universities to strengthen institutional capacities, including curriculum, faculty, scientific instrumentation, instruction delivery systems, and student recruitment and retention. The overall program objective is 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.

The program goals are 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Advocate for scholarly initiatives in undergraduate programs to address national and international demands for training in food and agricultural sciences, as well as in rural economic, community, and business development
• Increase the number and diversity of students who will pursue and complete a postsecondary degree in the food and agricultural sciences
• 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
• Attract exceptionally talented individuals into research or academic careers in the food and agricultural sciences, who will engage in graduate and postdoctoral fellowship programs

Projects that integrate social and biological sciences to address many of the challenges facing agriculture and rural communities are a priority, such as:

• Increasing global demand for food production in the face of limited natural resources
• Improving health and reducing obesity by engaging in healthy lifestyles and consuming healthy diets
• Alleviating poverty by fostering economic opportunity

Eligible applicants include:

• U.S. public and 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
• Other colleges and universities having a demonstrable capacity to carry out the teaching of food and agricultural sciences

Award ceiling: $750,000
Award floor: $30,000
Project period: 36-48 months
Estimated total program funding: $5,061,425

Links to the full announcement, application instructions, and the online application process are available through grants.gov.