--- title: The Navajo Nation's Coal Company Has Backed 1,000 Students, and Its Test Is Whether They Come Home description: Navajo Transitional Energy Company has awarded more than $1.1 million in scholarships since 2017 and says recipients are returning to work on the Nation. author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief) updated: 2026-07-26T15:26:07.557Z canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/ntec-navajo-scholarships-graduates-return image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/ntec-navajo-scholarship-recipients-37373.webp categories: Education content_type: News region: United States publication: Sovereign Magazine schema_type: Article --- Navajo Transitional Energy Company has awarded more than $1.1 million in college scholarships since 2017, money that has reached more than 1,000 Navajo students at 48 colleges and universities across 31 fields of study. The company is owned by the Navajo Nation. It runs four mines in New Mexico and Wyoming and is a partner in the Four Corners Power Plant in San Juan County, New Mexico, where it bought a seven percent interest in units four and five in July 2018, the first time a Navajo Nation enterprise owned part of a coal fired power plant. It employs more than 350 people at Navajo Mine, the vast majority of them Native American, and says taxes and royalties from the mine and the plant account for about 35 percent of the Navajo Nation General Fund. Coal is the company's business and, through those taxes and royalties, a large share of the Nation's annual budget. The word transitional sits in the company's name, and the scholarship programs are among the ways it spends against that name. ## Where the NTEC Scholarship Money Goes Three college scholarship programs run at once, covering students across the Navajo Nation and in the Powder River Basin, where the company's Wyoming mines are. The NTEC Navajo Nation Scholarship awards $1,000 a year to 50 students at accredited colleges, universities and technical institutions. The company also funds Dine College, Navajo Technical University and San Juan College directly, and pays room and board for two Navajo students at San Juan College who live more than 50 miles from campus, which it describes as removing one of the most common barriers to finishing a degree. Alongside those sit welding internships at Navajo Technical University, a Master Mechanic Scholarship at San Juan College, and the Navajo Transitional Energy Company School of Energy Resources Excellence Fund at the University of Wyoming. A partnership with the FIELDS Program at Whitehorse High School in Montezuma Creek, Utah, starts earlier, connecting Native American high school students with career pathways in regional industries. ## Why the Program Stopped Being a STEM Program It launched in 2017 for students in STEM disciplines, the obvious choice for a mining and energy company. About two years ago eligibility widened to any field of higher education or trade school certification. Recipients have since spread across 31 fields of study at 48 institutions, including Ivy League universities. > "They are about building the workforce and the leadership that the Navajo Nation needs for the future." > — Tim McLaughlin, Board Chairman, Navajo Transitional Energy Company ## What Coming Home Looks Like The company measures the program by how many recipients return to work on the Nation. At least two former recipients completed internships with the company and were then hired by it, and others have gone to the Indian Health Service and to local school districts. The graduates it points to are working in health care, engineering and tribal enterprises. Investing in Navajo students is one of the most important things the company does, says Tim McLaughlin, its board chairman, who describes the scholarships as building the workforce and the leadership the Nation will need. NTEC contributed more than $1.7 million to Navajo Nation communities in 2025 and puts its annual economic impact at more than $128 million. The awards are contributions rather than full funding. The flagship scholarship is $1,000 a year set against tuition, travel and the cost of living away from home, and the room and board grants at San Juan College are aimed at the students for whom distance is the deciding cost. Details of the three programs and how to apply are at [navenergy.com](https://navenergy.com/ntec-college-scholarship/). ## FAQ **Q: Who is eligible for the NTEC Navajo Nation scholarship?** It is open to students across the Navajo Nation at accredited colleges, universities and technical institutions. The program began in 2017 for students in STEM disciplines and widened about two years ago to any field of higher education or trade school certification. **Q: How much is the NTEC Navajo Nation scholarship?** The flagship award is $1,000 a year, given to 50 students. It is one of three programs: the company also funds Dine College, Navajo Technical University and San Juan College directly and covers room and board for two students who live more than 50 miles from the San Juan campus. Awards since 2017 total more than $1.1 million. **Q: Who owns Navajo Transitional Energy Company?** The Navajo Nation. The company runs four mines in New Mexico and Wyoming and holds a seven percent interest in units four and five of the Four Corners Power Plant, which it acquired in July 2018.