The Schools and Libraries Division rewarded the patience of some E-rate applicants April 4 by announcing that next week it will distribute more than $251 million in funding commitments for the 2002 E-rate funding year.
For the first time, this wave will include support for internal connections requests from applicants with discount rates of between 81 and 89 percent. Some of the commitments will continue to go to applicants at the 90 percent discount rate. The SLD is still considering whether it will be able to fund internal connections requests from applicants that filed at the 80 percent discount rate.
With this wave, the SLD will have committed more than $2.1 billion for the 2002 funding year. It has been authorized to commit up to $2.7 billion, recognizing that historically, many applicants have been unable to use all of their funding requests. It announced earlier this week that schools and libraries have requested $4.718 billion for the 2003 funding year.
