Nearly half of the dollars requested for Funding Year 2026 are still waiting on a decision, the highest share in six years of data. Every fall, school and library leaders ask us the same question: where is my funding decision? This year the question is louder than usual, so we pulled the numbers from E-rate Manager for FY2026 and the five funding years before it.
USAC has decided most requests already
As of September 2, USAC had issued decisions on 40,118 of the 58,669 requests filed for FY2026, committing $1.81 billion to schools and libraries two months into the funding year. That is a lot of work in a short time, and it fits what applicants tell us. In our 2024 E-rate Trends Report, 83 percent of applicants said they were satisfied with USAC overall, 90 percent said they can depend on E-rate funding every year, and 94 percent called the funding vital. The program is delivering.
What is still waiting: $1.67 billion
On the same date, 18,551 requests from 5,634 applicants were still pending, worth $1.67 billion. That is 46 percent of all dollars requested this year. One in four applicants started school without a decision on at least one request, and the requests still waiting are about twice the size of those already decided, so the dollars in limbo fall hardest on the districts and library systems serving the most students.
The dollars waiting have doubled in two years
Some requests are always pending in early September, so the fair test is the same date in prior years. From FY2021 through FY2024, between 20 and 25 percent of requested dollars were pending on September 1 and roughly 1,700 applicants were waiting. In FY2025 it was 37 percent and 3,238 applicants. In FY2026 it is 46 percent and 5,634 applicants. The dollars waiting have more than doubled and the applicants waiting have more than tripled, while total demand barely moved. Decisions are simply arriving later.
There is context. USAC changed application review contractors this year, and it is operating under real pressure from several open FCC rulemakings, including a top to bottom review of its own administration. None of that is the fault of the people doing the reviews. But a school district cannot run a network on context. Whatever the reasons, the time it takes to review and approve a funding request is too long, and it has been getting longer for two years.
What would help, and how to say so
The FCC is asking right now how to make USF administration run faster and answer to applicants better. It has floated publishing how long USAC takes to decide requests, improving how applicants are told where their request stands, and putting deadlines on USAC’s own review steps. Comments are due September 30 in WC Docket No. 26-173.
Requests still pending on September 1 of each funding year
Funds For Learning is filing comments in this proceeding this month. If your district or library is waiting on a decision right now, the Commission should hear it from you, not just from us. Tell the FCC how the wait has affected your schools or library. File a comment in WC Docket No. 26-173 by September 30. If you cannot make that date, reply comments are due October 30.
