Goto Section: 54.504 | 54.506 | Table of Contents
FCC 54.505
Revised as of October 5, 2017
Goto Year:2016 |
2018
§ 54.505 Discounts.
(a) Discount mechanism. Discounts for eligible schools and libraries
shall be set as a percentage discount from the pre-discount price.
(b) Discount percentages. Except as provided in paragraph (f), the
discounts available to eligible schools and libraries shall range from
20 percent to 90 percent of the pre-discount price for all eligible
services provided by eligible providers, as defined in this subpart.
The discounts available to a particular school, library, or consortium
of only such entities shall be determined by indicators of poverty and
high cost.
(1) For schools and school districts, the level of poverty shall be
based on the percentage of the student enrollment that is eligible for
a free or reduced price lunch under the national school lunch program
or a federally-approved alternative mechanism. School districts shall
divide the total number of students eligible for the National School
Lunch Program within the school district by the total number of
students within the school district to arrive at a percentage of
students eligible. This percentage rate shall then be applied to the
discount matrix to set a discount rate for the supported services
purchased by all schools within the school district. Independent
charter schools, private schools, and other eligible educational
facilities should calculate a single discount percentage rate based on
the total number of students under the control of the central
administrative agency.
(2) For libraries and library consortia, the level of poverty shall be
based on the percentage of the student enrollment that is eligible for
a free or reduced price lunch under the national school lunch program
or a federally-approved alternative mechanism in the public school
district in which they are located and should use that school
district's level of poverty to determine their discount rate when
applying as a library system or as an individual library outlet within
that system. When a library system has branches or outlets in more than
one public school district, that library system and all library outlets
within that system should use the address of the central outlet or main
administrative office to determine which school district the library
system is in, and should use that school district's level of poverty to
determine its discount rate when applying as a library system or as one
or more library outlets. If the library is not in a school district,
then its level of poverty shall be based on an average of the
percentage of students eligible for the national school lunch program
in each of the school districts that children living in the library's
location attend.
(3) The Administrator shall classify schools and libraries as “urban”
or “rural” according to the following designations.
(i) The Administrator shall designate a school or library as “urban” if
the school or library is located in an urbanized area or urban cluster
area with a population equal to or greater than 25,000, as determined
by the most recent rural-urban classification by the Bureau of the
Census. The Administrator shall designate all other schools and
libraries as “rural.”
(4) School districts, library systems, or other billed entities shall
calculate discounts on supported services described in § 54.502(a) that
are shared by two or more of their schools, libraries, or consortia
members by calculating an average discount based on the applicable
district-wide discounts of all member schools and libraries. School
districts, library systems, or other billed entities shall ensure that,
for each year in which an eligible school or library is included for
purposes of calculating the aggregate discount rate, that eligible
school or library shall receive a proportionate share of the shared
services for which support is sought. For schools, the discount shall
be a simple average of the applicable district-wide percentage for all
schools sharing a portion of the shared services. For libraries, the
average discount shall be a simple average of the applicable discounts
to which the libraries sharing a portion of the shared services are
entitled.
(c) Matrices. Except as provided in paragraphs (d) and (f) of this
section, the Administrator shall use the following matrices to set
discount rates to be applied to eligible category one and category two
services purchased by eligible schools, school districts, libraries, or
consortia based on the institution's level of poverty and location in
an “urban” or “rural” area.
Category one schools and libraries discount matrix Category two
schools and libraries discount matrix
Discount level Discount level
% of students eligible for national school lunch program Urban
discount Rural
discount Urban
discount Rural
discount
<1 20 25 20 25
1-19 40 50 40 50
20-34 50 60 50 60
35-49 60 70 60 70
50-74 80 80 80 80
75-100 90 90 85 85
(d) Voice Services. Discounts for category one voice services shall be
reduced by 20 percentage points off applicant discount percentage rates
for each funding year starting in funding year 2015, and reduced by an
additional 20 percentage points off applicant discount percentage rates
each subsequent funding year.
(e) Interstate and intrastate services. Federal universal service
support for schools and libraries shall be provided for both interstate
and intrastate services.
(1) Federal universal service support under this subpart for eligible
schools and libraries in a state is contingent upon the establishment
of intrastate discounts no less than the discounts applicable for
interstate services.
(2) A state may, however, secure a temporary waiver of this latter
requirement based on unusually compelling conditions.
(f) Additional discounts for State matching funds for special
construction. Federal universal service discounts shall be based on the
price of a service prior to the application of any state-provided
support for schools or libraries. When a governmental entity described
below provides funding for special construction charges for networks
that meet the long-term connectivity targets for the schools and
libraries universal service support program, the Administrator shall
match the governmental entity's contribution as provided for below:
(1) All E-rate applicants. When a State government provides funding for
special construction charges for a broadband connection to a school or
library the Administrator shall match the State's contribution on a
one-dollar-to-one-dollar basis up to an additional 10 percent discount,
provided however that the total support from federal universal service
and the State may not exceed 100 percent.
(2) Tribal schools. When a State government, Tribal government, or
federal agency provides funding for special construction charges for a
broadband connection to a school operated by the Bureau of Indian
Education or by a Tribal government, the Administrator shall match the
governmental entity's contribution on a one-dollar-to-one-dollar basis
up to an additional 10 percent discount, provided however that the
total support from federal universal service and the governmental
entity may not exceed 100 percent.
(3) Tribal libraries. When a State government, Tribal government, or
federal agency provides funding for special construction charges for a
broadband connection to a library operated by Tribal governments, the
Administrator shall match the governmental entity's contribution on a
one-dollar-to-one-dollar basis up to an additional 10 percent discount,
provided however that the total support from federal universal service
and the governmental entity may not exceed 100 percent.
[ 62 FR 32948 , June 17, 1997, as amended at 62 FR 41304 , Aug. 1, 1997;
63 FR 2130 , Jan. 13, 1998; 63 FR 70572 , Dec. 21, 1998; 75 FR 75414 ,
Dec. 3, 2010; 79 FR 49201 , Aug. 19, 2014; 79 FR 68634 , Nov. 18, 2014;
80 FR 5989 , Feb. 4, 2015]
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Goto Section: 54.504 | 54.506
Goto Year: 2016 |
2018
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