E-Rate for FY 2026 – Application Window:

Application Window: The Form 471 application window for FY 2026 opened Wednesday, January 21st, and will close on Wednesday, April 1st, at 11:59 p.m. EDT.  The administrative window, which gave applicants the opportunity to update their EPC entity profiles, closed January 16th.  Any subsequent entity changes during the window period will have to be made as a RAL correction or updated during application review.

E-Rate for FY 2025:

USAC issued Wave 39 for FY 2025 on Thursday, January 29th, for $6.95 million.  Total funding for FY 2025 is now $2.54 billion. Currently, USAC has funded 95.0% of submitted applications, representing 86.3% of the dollars requested.

Cybersecurity Pilot Program:

USAC issued the second Cyber Pilot funding wave on Wednesday, January 28th, for $10.1 million.  Total Cyber funding is now $28.8 million.

Early last week, in a USAC Board meeting, USAC indicated that it planned to issue monthly Cyber funding waves with a target end date in June.  The current status of funded and pending applications is shown in the table below.

Out-of-Window applications, which may be denied, are listed separately to reflect eight late-filing waivers that have already been rejected by the FCC.

Upcoming Dates:

USAC’s E-Rate News Brief dated January 28, 2026 covers the following topics:

• The E-Rate Tips section covers:
  • The new five-year Category Two budget cycle begins in FY 2026.
  • The revised Form 471 for FY 2026 adds a BEAR/SPI selection field for each FRN.
  • The Form 471 Training Site is now available for FY 2026 applications.
  • Instructions for service providers seeking to access Form 470s for FY 2026.
  • The Form 471 Bulk Upload tool for applicants with large numbers of services and/or recipients of service.
• Preparation for the FY 2026 application filing window.
• The upcoming online Q&A session on the E-Rate pre-commitment process on Thursday, February 19 (register).