Recently, Executive Director of E-Rate Central Winston Himsworth visited the CNYRIC campus to talk about E-Rate with attendees from a variety of Regional Information Centers and BOCES.
Part of the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund, the E-Rate program aims to subsidize information technology infrastructure and services for schools and libraries. The program not only offers substantial discounts on these services (sometimes as high as 85-90%) but also provides a budget for these services. Both the discount and the budget are based on a formula that takes into account the socioeconomic status of the population these entities serve.
The presentation covered all the nuts and bolts of the program for attendees with experience on the programmatic side (rules around document retention and compliance) to service eligibility (infrastructure) and deadlines inherent to the five-year budget cycle. They walked through the application process for those new to E-Rate, and highlighted the key differences of the upcoming cycle for those who may have been part of this process before.
If you have any questions regarding E-Rate, please reach out to Don Crowley or Andrew Houck.
Part of the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund, the E-Rate program aims to subsidize information technology infrastructure and services for schools and libraries. The program not only offers substantial discounts on these services (sometimes as high as 85-90%) but also provides a budget for these services. Both the discount and the budget are based on a formula that takes into account the socioeconomic status of the population these entities serve.
The presentation covered all the nuts and bolts of the program for attendees with experience on the programmatic side (rules around document retention and compliance) to service eligibility (infrastructure) and deadlines inherent to the five-year budget cycle. They walked through the application process for those new to E-Rate, and highlighted the key differences of the upcoming cycle for those who may have been part of this process before.
If you have any questions regarding E-Rate, please reach out to Don Crowley or Andrew Houck.
