Skip to main content
NC School Connectivity Initiative

Urgent E-rate News and Reminders

January 3, 2022

Window News: 

  • Admin Window:

The admin window closes on Monday, January 10th at 11:59 PM EST. You MUST have completed all your profile updates by this time, make them in the narrative section of the 471, or through a RAL.  Please see our newsletter from December 3 for directions and information. 

You will NOT be changing your discount calculation numbers (student count/NSLP/CEP) due to COVID. Free/Reduced Lunch numbers are still not being collected and students are still being fed for free.  We will be resubmitting our State Valid File from 2020 for these numbers. 

New Charters for FY2022: For student count, use your proposed first year enrollment from your charter application. For NSLP number enter 0. This is to take the minimum or base discount. 

Schools may request a Category 2 budget adjustment IF you have had a significant increase in student enrollment for your PSU.  We have posted our 2022 State Valid File (SVF) on our website (enrollment from October 21 with no private data). You may download and use your PSU’s data. Change the budget numbers ONLY if you wish to apply for a recalculation. More information on how to do a budget recalculation is below. 

Failure to update profiles not only affects your school, but it also affects us at DPI as well.  So even if you do not plan to apply for anything on your own, please remember you are on the state’s internet and are on our application. You must make sure your numbers are correct. 

  • Form 471 Filing Window Dates: 

The Form 471 filing window will open on Wednesday, January 12, 2022 at 12:00 noon EST and will close on Tuesday, March 22, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. EST.  Please contact your E-rate coordinator and schedule filing appointments now.  We would like everyone in NC to be filed no later than March 15th.        

The E-rate team will be at NCTIES in March to assist in filing as well.  We will be scheduling appointments as well during that time.                     

Category 2 Budget Adjustments: 

You should not modify the “Category Two (C2) Budget Information” Student Count (below) unless you have a SIGNIFICANT increase in student enrollment listed in the SVF.  We will assist you with determining significant should you have any questions.  Please see the video webinar “Category Two Budgets” from USAC regarding updating this number located on this page.

The SVF with your FY2022 students counts can be found at this link (on our website). 

Website News: 

We will be adding important deadlines and reminders to the homepage of our website. Be sure to keep up to date with any reminders you see. 

WAN 470s/RFPs: 

All 470/RFPs for WAN services should be posted by now and your bids should be getting ready to come in or you should be somewhere in this process.  If you have not posted yet, please do so no later than January 15. 

Invoice deadlines: 

Please check your invoice deadlines for FY2020 FRNs.  There is an upcoming invoice deadline of January 28, 2022. You’ve likely received an email already from us regarding this date. Please make sure these have been invoiced out, filed for an Invoice Deadline Extension, or Form 500 completed to return the funds. 

FY22 Category 2 survey from Friday Institute: 

On November 1, you received the annual Category 2 E-rate survey from the Friday Institute and Ray Zeisz.  It is super important that you respond to this survey so that we at DPI have enough Cat2 funds budgeted for our match to your projects. To date, only 45 PSUs have responded. If you have not done so, please respond immediately to the survey at this link.