Free Engineering Programs for High School Students

Funded engineering programs put real hardware and lab time within reach — university intensives, maker fellowships, and outreach programs that cover every cost.

Free engineering seats are scarcer than free coding seats because materials cost money; apply to several and lead with what you've already built, however small.

114 verified programs match this page; 30 of the featured listings are completely free; 4 can be done online.

Featured programs

Browse 30+ curated programs for high school students:

• NASA HUNCH (High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware) — NASA: Design and build aerospace hardware used on the ISS in this hands-on high school STEM program. Boost engineering skills and strengthen college applica
• Women's Technology Program at MIT — MIT: Empower your STEM journey with a free four-week summer program for high school women at MIT. Gain hands-on engineering skills and boost your college a
• NASA Student Launch — NASA: Design and launch high-power rockets in this exciting STEM competition. Gain hands-on aerospace experience, boost college applications, and explore en
• Beaver Works Summer Institute — MIT: Elite summer program for high schoolers in Grades 10-11 focused on STEM fields like drones and cybersecurity. Gain hands-on experience and boost colle
• James Dyson Award — James Dyson Foundation: International STEM competition challenging high school innovators in Grades 11-12 to design groundbreaking solutions. Win $40k and boost college appli
• NSBE Pre-College Scholarship — National Society of Black Engineers: NSBE's pre-college scholarships support Black high school students pursuing STEM education. Awards ranging from $500–$15,000 recognize academic excell
• SHPE Foundation ScholarSHPE Program — Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Foundation: SHPE Foundation ScholarSHPE awards scholarships to Hispanic STEM students from high school through graduate school. One of the premier engineering org
• AISES Scholarship Program — American Indian Science and Engineering Society: AISES offers $2,000–$10,000 scholarships to Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and First Nations STEM students. One of
• Lehigh University Pre-College Programs — Lehigh University: Pre-college programs at Lehigh University covering engineering, business, arts, and sciences.
• High School Internship Program — Los Alamos National Laboratory: Research and operations internships for NM high school seniors.
• AEOP High School Apprenticeship Program (HSAP) — U.S. Army Educational Outreach Program: Paid summer research apprenticeships with Army-sponsored labs and faculty.
• Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS) TEAMS Competition — Technology Student Association: Team-based engineering problem-solving competition. Tests real-world engineering scenarios. State and national levels.
• NASA High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS) — NASA Johnson Space Center: Online course with an in-person engineering design experience at NASA.
• NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative — NASA: Student teams design and build small satellites launched by NASA. Real space mission experience. Demonstrates advanced engineering and project managem
• Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) — National Science Teaching Association & U.S. Armed Services: Research presentation competition with regional and national symposia.
• BEST Robotics Competition — BEST Robotics: Free robotics competition. Six-week design challenge.
• MITES Summer — MIT Office of Engineering Outreach Programs: Six-week, residential MIT program for underrepresented rising seniors in STEM.
• MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute (BWSI) — MIT Lincoln Laboratory & MIT School of Engineering: Rigorous 4-week STEM program. Students work on real engineering challenges in robotics, AI, cybersecurity. Free for selected students.
• Future City Competition — DiscoverE: Design city of the future. Teams create models, essays, and presentations for national finals in DC.
• New Jersey Governor's School of Engineering & Technology — Rutgers University: NJ's premier engineering summer program at Rutgers. Hands-on projects and college-level coursework for NJ students.
• VEX Robotics World Championship Excellence Award — REC Foundation: Excellence Award is the highest honor at VEX Worlds. Given to teams that exemplify overall excellence in building a quality robotics program.
• NASA Lunabotics Competition — NASA: University-level robotics competition to design, build, and operate lunar regolith mining robots for simulated Moon environments.
• Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions — U.S. Department of Energy & Argonne National Laboratory: DOE-sponsored university-level eco-car competitions; high school students can engage via outreach, mentoring, and events.
• Technoxian World Robotics Championship — Technoxian / All India Council for Robotics & Automation: Global robotics competition with diverse challenges for school and college teams, held annually in India.
• Robotix Robotics Competition — Technology Robotix Society, IIT Kharagpur: Robotix is IIT Kharagpur’s annual robotics competition featuring diverse technical challenges for student teams.
• National Robotics League Combat Robots — National Robotics League (NTMA): A combat robotics competition where students design, build, and battle robots in a real-world engineering challenge.
• RoboMaster Robotics Competition for Students — DJI RoboMaster: A DJI-organized international robotics competition where student teams design, build, and program combat-style robots.
• Robo-Magellan Robotics Competition — Seattle Robotics Society: Robo-Magellan is an autonomous outdoor robot navigation contest where teams build robots to reach GPS-marked waypoints.
• Robofest Robotics Competition — Lawrence Technological University: Robofest is an autonomous robotics competition for 4th–12th grade students organized by Lawrence Technological University.
• Robo-One Biped Robot Competition — Robo-One Committee: Robo-One is a Japanese biped robot fighting and performance competition that challenges teams to design, build, and control humanoid robots.

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