NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program | Office of National Scholarships & Fellowships | Office of National Scholarships & Fellowships | Enrichment Programs

The purpose of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is to help ensure the quality, vitality, and strength of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States. Since 1952, the program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing full-time research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, including STEM education. NSF GRFP was established to recruit and support individuals who demonstrate the potential to make significant contributions in STEM, including STEM education. NSF encourages applications from the full spectrum of talent that the U.S. has to offer.

Deadlines

The application deadlines for the Fall 2026 semester have not yet been released. These were the deadlines for Fall 2025, which are probably a good indication of where they will be this year:

November 7: All reference letters due by 5:00pm Eastern Time
November 10: Life Sciences
November 12: Computer and Information Science and Engineering; Materials Research; Psychology; Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences; STEM Education and Learning
November 13: Engineering
November 14: Chemistry; Geosciences; Mathematical Sciences; Physics and Astronomy

Resources

Here are some resources that you may find useful when working on your NSF GRFP application:

NSF’s “Information for Applicants” website (which includes detailed templates for each response)
NSF’s 2025 Application Overview Webinar (recorded in early October 2025)
Graduate Students’ NSF Fellowship Applications Are Being “Returned Without Review” – Eos (February 2026)

Questions

See the list below for frequently asked questions about the NSF GRFP application process:

Frequently Asked Questions from www.nsfgrfp.org.
In 2025, the NSF (for reasons no one really understands) required students to upload official transcripts only. It is possible that this will be the case again in 2026.
- Click here for instructions on how to request a copy of your official transcript.
  - The transcript you receive from the Parchment service will be permission-restricted. You’ll need to reprint it (or save another copy) and remove all permission restrictions before uploading your transcript. Otherwise, the file will not upload successfully.
  - Note that when you print a copy of an official transcript, it generates a red “Copy of Transcript” watermark on your transcript. Fellowships advisors around the country are working on the assumption that this will not be a problem since the NSF is requiring official transcripts but did not create a mechanism for students to have their official transcripts sent directly to the NSF. In other words, every transcript they receive will be a “copy.”
  - That said, if the red “Copy of Transcript” watermark really bothers you, there’s nothing keeping you from opening the file, printing it to PDF, saving the new file with no security restrictions, and then using a PDF editor to delete the watermark.