CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service (CyberAI SFS): 2027 Competition

CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service (CyberAI SFS): 2027 Competition

The U.S. National Science Foundation’s current CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service program is governed by solicitation NSF 26-503, with the next annual competition dates now shown for 2027. NSF renamed the long-running CyberCorps Scholarship for Service model and expanded it to cover the intersection of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. The program links three connected activities:

1. Workforce preparation in a high-demand technical field,
2. Higher education program design and support,
3. A defined government-service obligation for scholarship recipients.

The next listed Scholarship Track deadline is July 20, 2027. NSF lists April 5, 2027 as the next Innovation Track target date. The 2026 dates are closed: the Scholarship Track deadline was July 21, 2026, and NSF says proposals submitted after that date will not be accepted. The 2027 dates are therefore the relevant planning dates for an institution preparing a proposal now.

This is a federal institutional grant opportunity, not an individual scholarship application. The submitting organization prepares the proposal, receives the NSF award, selects and counsels eligible scholars, and manages the academic and reporting obligations. Students do not apply to NSF directly through this listing. They enter through a funded institution and must satisfy the program’s academic, citizenship or permanent-resident, internship, and post-graduation service requirements.

Key details at a glance

The most important practical point is that this is not a one-year startup award or an individual tuition waiver. A Scholarship Track budget must run for three years and must account for student support, mentoring, institutional management, and the records needed to verify academic progress, internships, employment, and service completion. An Innovation Track project can run for up to three years, with an annual budget between $100,000 and $200,000 and a maximum award of $500,000.

What this opportunity is really funding

NSF has two tracks under one solicitation. They should be planned separately because their applicants, deliverables, and funding structures differ.

The Scholarship Track funds academic institutions that establish or continue scholarship-for-service programs with integrated AI and cybersecurity components. A proposal must identify whether its focus is Cyber, preparing cyber experts to use AI in cybersecurity operations, or AI, preparing AI professionals to protect the security of AI systems and infrastructure. The supported academic program must be formal and substantial. For the Cyber focus, NSF requires at least four cybersecurity courses and at least two AI courses; for the AI focus, the corresponding requirement is at least four AI courses and at least two cybersecurity courses.

The Innovation Track supports educational projects in AI, cybersecurity, or their integration. Eligible work can expand curricula, degree programs, educational pathways, teaching methods, informal learning, professional development, partnerships, competitions, applied research, or shareable resources. The proposed work should have potential for wide adoption and should help the U.S. education system prepare more AI and cybersecurity professionals. It is not limited to projects that award scholarships.

Both tracks require a credible education and workforce plan. Proposals must explain goals and measurable outcomes, and they must include formative and summative evaluation. Scholarship proposals also need a recruitment and selection plan, scholar counseling, mentoring and cohort activities, internship planning, service-obligation monitoring, and a project-management system that can sustain records after graduation.

The program scope includes:

• AI and cybersecurity education,
• preparation for government-sector AI and cybersecurity roles,
• mentoring and applied learning,
• qualified summer internships,
• post-graduation placement and retention in government service.

The scholarship model is built around service continuity. Recipients must work after graduation in the AI or cybersecurity mission of a qualified government organization for a period at least as long as the scholarship. If a scholar does not meet the academic or service requirements, the scholarship must be repaid or converted by the institution to a student loan, prorated for partial service where appropriate. The institution must explain these obligations during counseling and maintain the documentation needed for repayment decisions.

NSF manages CyberAI SFS with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Homeland Security. That partnership matters because the award connects education funding to government hiring, internship, and service systems. A university should apply only if its grants office, academic leadership, student-support staff, and government-employer contacts can coordinate those responsibilities over several years.

The 2026 round is closed; the 2027 cycle is announced

The 2026 round should be treated as historical context, not as an open submission window. NSF recorded these dates:

• April 3, 2026 was the target date for the Innovation Track and the FY 2026 Scholarship Track competition.
• July 21, 2026 was the Scholarship Track deadline for the FY 2027 competition.
• NSF states that proposals submitted after July 21, 2026 will not be accepted or will be returned without review.

The current program page lists the next annual dates. The Innovation Track target is April 5, 2027. The Scholarship Track deadline is July 20, 2027, due by 5 p.m. in the submitting organization’s local time. The program page also identifies the recurring pattern as April 3 for Innovation Track target dates and the third Tuesday in July for Scholarship Track deadlines; the specific 2027 dates are the dates to use for this cycle.

The distinction between a target date and a deadline remains important:

• A target date does not stop submissions. NSF explains that the Innovation Track accepts proposals over a 12-month period, and proposals near or after the target can be reviewed on arrival or held for the following target-date cohort.
• A deadline date is firm. A Scholarship Track proposal submitted after July 20, 2027 should not be treated as timely for this cycle.
• The annual Scholarship Track competition has one competition due date after the two-date structure used in 2026.

As of this page update, the next cycle has been announced but neither 2027 due date is the current day’s deadline. Institutions should use the 2027 dates for planning and verify the live NSF program page before submitting, because NSF can publish updates to due dates or guidance.

Eligibility and proposer fit: who should apply

Eligibility is track-specific and should be confirmed before a proposal team starts drafting.

For the Scholarship Track, the proposer must be an accredited Institution of Higher Education with a campus located in the United States, acting for its faculty. A community college can participate only as a sub-awardee of a partnering four-year SFS institution. This makes the track unsuitable for an individual student, a company, or a stand-alone two-year college seeking to lead the award.

For the Innovation Track, eligible applicants include accredited two- and four-year U.S. IHEs, including community colleges. Eligible nonprofit non-academic organizations include independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies, and similar organizations located in the U.S. when they are directly associated with educational or research activities. A commercial organization is not made eligible merely because its project concerns AI or cybersecurity.

The PI, co-PI, and other Senior/Key project personnel must hold either a tenured or tenure-track position or a primary, full-time, paid research, administration, or teaching appointment at a U.S.-based campus of an eligible organization. NSF allows exceptions for family or medical leave as determined by the submitting organization. Primary appointments at for-profit non-academic organizations and overseas branch campuses of U.S. IHEs are not eligible.

The institution-level constraints also matter:

• The Scholarship Track permits one proposal per performing organization for the same competition date.
• A Scholarship Track individual may not participate as PI, co-PI, or Senior Personnel on more than one proposal for the same competition date.
• An Innovation Track individual may participate on no more than two proposals submitted within a 12-month period.
• A collaborative proposal submitted as separate submissions by multiple organizations must use Research.gov.

Scholarship Track applicants must also document a strong existing formal AI or cybersecurity program. NSF gives examples such as ABET cybersecurity accreditation, National Center of Academic Excellence designation, course and curriculum evidence, enrollment or graduation data, employment outcomes, or equivalent evidence in the project narrative. A general statement that a campus is interested in AI is not enough.

What students receive and what they must do

The student award is not automatic and is not based on financial need. The institution proposes a cohort and selects recipients through a merit-based process. A scholarship recipient must be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, demonstrate commitment to an AI or cybersecurity career, and be a full-time student in a coherent formal program at the awardee institution.

Eligible academic stages are specific:

• sophomore standing in an associate’s degree program that continues through a bachelor’s degree,
• junior or senior standing in a bachelor’s degree or accelerated bachelor’s/master’s program,
• enrolled in a master’s degree program, or
• enrolled in a research-based doctoral program.

Second-year community-college students may receive one year of support when a formal agreement with a four-year institution provides the transfer path and two additional years of support. The community college must be a sub-awardee of the partnering four-year CyberAI SFS institution.

Scholarship Track support includes an academic-year stipend of $27,000 per year for undergraduate students or $37,000 per year for graduate students. The budget also covers tuition and mandatory education-related fees, but not meal plans, housing, or parking. Each student receives a $6,000 professional allowance per academic year for job fairs, travel, conferences, research materials, books, supplies, a one-time laptop purchase, professional training, and certifications.

Students must participate in qualified summer internships related to AI or cybersecurity during the scholarship period. After graduation, they must serve in a qualified government organization’s AI or cybersecurity mission for at least the length of the scholarship. The NSF FAQ clarifies that students are responsible for their own internship and post-graduation job searches through USAJobs.gov and agency portals. The SFS Program Office provides job-search tools such as webinars, job fairs, and newsletters, while the institution coordinates with that office and monitors placements.

The awardee must verify citizenship or permanent-resident status, academic merit, professional skills, enrollment, and continued academic progress. It must provide counseling before the scholarship and before the Scholarship Phase ends, coordinate internships and permanent placements with the program office, collect annual post-scholarship employment documentation, and use a Forgivable Loan Promissory Note or similar agreement to support repayment if the service obligation is not completed.

Support for an individual student may not exceed three years. A typical Scholarship Track project supports two cohorts, and the three-year budget must include stipends, tuition, professional allowances, and the institutional costs needed to manage the program. Up to $12,000 per student per year may be requested in other direct-cost categories when those costs contribute to project effectiveness and are justified in the budget.

Innovation Track proposals use a different budget model. They can run for up to three years, with an annual budget between $100,000 and $200,000 and a maximum award of $500,000. The Innovation Track does not turn into a scholarship simply because it includes student or public education activities.

Application process for the 2027 dates

NSF permits submission through Research.gov or Grants.gov. Letters of intent and preliminary proposals are not required. Use the current PAPPG and the applicable NSF or Grants.gov application instructions in force when the proposal is submitted.

1. Choose the track and focus

Decide whether the project is a Scholarship Track proposal or an Innovation Track proposal. Scholarship Track submissions must identify the AI or Cyber focus and describe the corresponding academic program, scholarship activities, research or engagement opportunities, and expected number and degrees of recipients. Innovation Track submissions should explain the educational problem, the intervention, how results will be shared, and why the work could be adopted beyond the immediate project.

2. Build the compliance matrix

All proposals need an evaluation plan in the Project Description. Name expected outcomes and metrics, include formative and summative assessment, and give the project team a reporting timeline. The evaluator may not be PI, co-PI, or Senior Personnel. Include Results from Prior NSF Support and the required Graduate Student Mentoring Plan when applicable.

Scholarship Track proposals additionally need documented program strength, recruitment and selection criteria, onboarding and counseling, mentoring and cohort activities, internship and service-obligation plans, and a detailed institutional responsibility and project-management plan. The proposal title must begin with CyberAI SFS: for Scholarship Track or CyberAI Innovation: for Innovation Track.

3. Prepare the budget and student plan

For a Scholarship Track budget, use a three-year period and include student stipends, tuition, mandatory fees, and professional allowances as Participant Support Costs. Do not put internship support in the NSF budget: students are expected to participate in a paid government internship. Voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited. For Innovation Track, keep the annual amount within $100,000 to $200,000 and explain how the work will be evaluated and disseminated.

Assign owners for the Authorized Organizational Representative, grants submission, budget, academic program, student services, evaluation, internship coordination, and post-graduation records. The proposal should show how those owners will work together after an award, not merely list them in a staffing paragraph.

4. Submit on the correct 2027 date

The Innovation Track’s listed target date is April 5, 2027. Since it is a target date, NSF may still accept submissions outside the date window under the program’s rolling target-date process. The Scholarship Track’s listed deadline is July 20, 2027, due by 5 p.m. in the submitting organization’s local time. Treat it as a firm cutoff, and leave time for institutional review, Research.gov or Grants.gov validation, and correction of rejected forms.

Letters of support are not authorized by the solicitation and can cause a proposal to be returned without review. Supplementary documents are limited to items allowed by the PAPPG and solicitation, such as mentoring plans, data-management plans, letters of collaboration where permitted, and evidence of ABET cybersecurity accreditation, National Center of Academic Excellence designation, or an equivalent certificate.

Review focus and practical risks

NSF uses the National Science Board’s Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts criteria. For CyberAI SFS, a persuasive proposal connects those criteria to measurable educational outcomes, student progression, the quality of the AI or cybersecurity program, government-workforce preparation, and a credible evaluation plan. Innovation Track projects also need a dissemination path and a reason that other educators or organizations could use the resulting materials, methods, or partnerships.

The most common planning risks are easy to identify. A proposal can fail its fit test when it treats a Scholarship Track award as ordinary student aid, assumes that a community college may lead without the required four-year partnership, or names a PI whose primary appointment is not at an eligible U.S.-based campus. It can also become noncompliant when it includes prohibited letters of support, voluntary committed cost sharing, an incomplete evaluation plan, or a budget that includes internship support.

Operational readiness deserves equal attention. The institution must know who will verify eligibility, counsel students, track enrollment and academic progress, coordinate internships, record post-graduation employment, and calculate repayment when service is not completed. Students search for their own internships and jobs, but the institution still has a monitoring and coordination duty. A strong narrative gives reviewers enough detail to see how those duties will work in practice.

Who should use this listing

Use this page as a planning record for U.S. higher-education institutions and qualifying nonprofit educational or research organizations preparing for the announced 2027 cycle. It is not an application form for students and does not promise admission, an award, employment, or a particular stipend outside an approved institutional proposal.

The 2026 dates remain useful only for understanding the history of this solicitation. They should not be copied into a new proposal calendar. Before submitting, open the official NSF program page and the linked NSF 26-503 solicitation, confirm that the 2027 dates and instructions remain current, and ask the CyberAI SFS Program contact at [email protected] about questions that the solicitation does not resolve.

The central decision is organizational readiness. An institution needs an eligible academic program, a defensible student-selection process, enough staff to monitor scholars, and a credible way to coordinate internships and government-service records. If those systems are not in place, a smaller Innovation Track education project may be a better fit than a Scholarship Track proposal. If they are in place, CyberAI SFS offers a structured route to connect AI and cybersecurity education with public-service careers while preserving the academic and reporting standards of an NSF grant.