The Schools and Libraries Division January 25 issued 19 letters, providing $11.2 million worth of funding commitments for the 2003 funding year. The wave, number 37 for that funding year, will bring to nearly $2.6 billion the amount that has been committed for that year.
The SLD said it intends to continue issuing regular waves for 2003 until the process is complete. George McDonald, vice president of the Universal Service Administrative Company for schools and libraries, told the SLD’s governing board earlier that week that the SLD had just under 500 applications for 2003 for which it has not issued funding commitments. For 2003, the SLD is approving eligible funding requests for internal connections for applicants with discount rates of 70 percent or higher. About $260 million worth of requests are still pending from that year. Details of the wave should be made available later this week.