Determining your Discount Percentage
using the The E-Rate Discount Matrix
Every school or library that participates in the E-Rate Program should know their Discount Percentage. The discount percentage for an E-Rate applicant is based on student eligibility for free and reduced lunch. The minimum that any entity could receive on Category One (internet service to the school or library) is 20% and the maximum is 90%. In other words, if none of your students are eligible for free and reduced lunch, your organization could still receive a 20% discount on your organization’s internet services. If over 75% of your students are eligible for free and reduced lunch, your discount would be 90% off of your organization’s internet services.
In addition, E-Rate also funds discounts for Category Two (Internal Connections Equipment and Services) that range from 20% to 85% – also dependent on the percentage of your students who are eligible for free and reduced lunch. Schools do not have to participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) in order to validate their discount level, they only have to have a mechanism for determining how many of their students qualify for free and reduced lunch. There are many ways to do this: Surveys, Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, Federal public housing assistance or Section 8, LIJEAP (Direct Certs).
| Discount Matrix | Category | I | Category | II |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of students in your school that qualifies for the National School Lunch Program is… | Urban Discount | Rural Discount | Urban Discount | Rural Discount |
| Less than 1% | 20% | 25% | 20% | 25% |
| 1% to 19% | 40% | 50% | 40% | 50% |
| 20% to 34% | 50% | 60% | 50% | 60% |
| 35% to 49% | 60% | 70% | 60% | 70% |
| 50% to 74% | 80% | 80% | 80% | 80% |
| 75% to 100% | 90% | 90% | 85% | 85% |
Contact Us Today!
(908) 892-0705
Email: info@erateadvantage.com
Whether you are looking for a consultant or just have questions about the E-Rate program, we would love to hear from you and help in any way that we can. There is no obligation in giving us a call to see if our services would be a right fit for your Organization.
We are a full-service E-Rate consulting company, and we have been helping Schools and Libraries with their E-Rate applications for over 15 years. We take our clients from the beginning stages of the E-Rate application process all the way through to receiving a Funding Commitment Decision Letter (FCDL) and getting the funds deposited into the school’s account.
Please reach out to us, and one of our dedicated consultants will return your message within 24 hours. Thank you.
