E-rate to Fund All C1 and C2 Applications for FY 2015!

April 30, 2015

Although the official FY 2015 Demand Estimate has not yet been submitted to the FCC, on Monday the Schools and Libraries Committee of the USAC board approved the funding of all Category 1 and Category 2 applications for Funding Year 2015.  This is incredible news and means that despite your discount level, if you followed the E-rate rules, your application will be funded.

The big question is WHEN will you receive your funding commitment letter.  I believe the first wave of Funding Commitment Letters will be mailed in the next few weeks for those applications that have already gone through PIA review.  However, you shouldn’t expect your Category 1 and Category 2 FCDLs at the same time.  USAC is committed to having all FCDLs issued no later than October 1.

By my estimate more than half of all Category 1 FY 2015 Form 471s are already in Initial Review.  If you haven’t yet been contacted, you either will be contacted shortly or your application may already have been reviewed without the need to contact you.  To determine the status of your application, go to http://www.sl.universalservice.org/menu.asp, click on ‘Application Status’ and enter your Billed Entity Number.  Then click ‘Continue’ at the bottom of the page.

If you need to make a correction to your Form 471, cancel a Form 471, cancel a funding request, add a funding request or increase/decrease the amount you requested, you should do so using the YELLOW Receipt Acknowledgement Letter (RAL).  A RAL is sent for each Form 471 that has been submitted/certified and summarizes each of your funding requests.   If nothing needs changed on your Form 471, no applicant action is required.  If you need to make a correction, cancel an FRN, cancel the Form 471 completely, you can do so by making the changes to the RAL and faxing back to USAC or using the Submit a Question feature (choose Other as the category).   You also may add a forgotten funding request or even increase a funding amount using the RAL, but only if you have a substantiating document that’s dated prior to the date you submitted your Form 471 (such as an invoice or signed contract).   RAL changes should be faxed to 973-599-6526.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at jtschell@comcast.net.

– Julie

Julie Tritt Schell
PA E-rate Coordinator

717-730-7133 – o
717-730-9060 – f
jtschell@comcast.net
www.e-ratepa.org

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