BIE Internship Funding for STEM Students Grant

BIE Internship Funding for STEM Students Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Native Forward Scholars Fund
Last Updated: December 09, 2025

Summary

The BIE Internship Funding for STEM Students, offered by the Native Forward Scholars Fund, provides financial assistance to Native students for approved internships related to STEM. This initiative helps cover costs such as travel, living expenses, and daily commuting, facilitating valuable professional experiences. By supporting these students, the program aims to enhance Native representation in STEM fields and empower future leaders within their communities, contributing positively to society's growth and diversity.

Overview

Our Story Throughout our 50-year history, Native Forward has empowered over 22,000 students from over 500 Tribes in all 50 states by providing scholarship dollars and support for services for undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees. Our collective story is woven together from a diverse fabric of cultures, customs, and histories. The exchange of ideas and knowledge enriches our shared experiences from one generation to the next. We are all part of contributing to that story and with each Native perspective and journey, the next chapter will evolve and grow. We believe higher education deepens our transformative impact on every part of society. Knowledge and experience are powerful tools that can advance and preserve our way of life. By learning from the past, we are creating our own brilliant future. For more than 50 years, we have empowered Native leaders through national scholarship funding and student services to share their voices and strengthen their communities. To inspire excellence with impact, we provide: Holistic support services and resources to help Native students access and navigate the higher education of their choice. A strong network of engaged alumni that fosters community and mentorship beyond our organization. Advocacy of greater representation and visibility of Native communities. Trusted stewardship of donor support and scholarship funding to make meaningful differences. Empowering Native scholars and increasing visibility through higher education. BIE Internship Funding for STEM Students Native Forward Scholars Fund, in partnership with the BIE, provides financial assistance to students to participate in internships. This financial assistance is established to offset costs directly associated with participation in approved internships with the Department of Interior (Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Bureau of Trust Funds Administration, National Park Service, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, etc.) or other approved internships directly related to STEM. This award covers travel costs, including the cost to travel to accept the internship, eligible living expenses, and daily commuting costs to travel to and from the internship location. Roundtrip travel, housing, and commuting costs will be considered (documentation for itemized costs must be submitted).

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. To be considered for the BIE Professional Development Funding, the applicant must meet the following requirements:Be an enrolled member of a US federally recognized American Indian Tribe or Alaska Native group OR provide documentation of ancestry to possession of 1/2 degree Indian blood of a federally recognized Tribe.Provide proof of Tribal eligibility through submission of a Tribal Eligibility Certificate OR provide proof of Tribal enrollment via a copy of your Certificate Degree of Indian Blood, Tribal membership card, OR a letter of enrollment/descendancy from your Tribal enrollment office.Be employed at a Bureau funded school, a Bureau controlled school, a school on a reservation, a school with at least 20% Native population, attending a TCU, or attending an accredited-post secondary institution.