AFFORDABLE CONNECTIVITY PROGRAM
ACP Wind-Down
These are some commonly asked questions about the Affordable Connectivity Program wind-down for community organizations and trusted institutions working to help households navigate the Affordable Connectivity Program.
General
The wind-down is happening because the $14.2 billion allocated to fund the ACP will run out at the end of April 2024 unless Congress takes action to extend it. Due to the current lack of additional funding, the FCC has begun to wind down the ACP. This means:
- ACP applications and enrollments were paused after February 7, 2024, at 11:59 PM ET.
- Households who had applied, were approved, and were receiving the monthly internet discount before February 8, 2024, will continue to receive their ACP benefit until ACP funds run out, as long as they remain enrolled in the program.
- Once the ACP funds run out (the FCC has announced that the last fully funded month will be April 2024), households participating in the ACP will no longer receive the ACP discount.
Congress may still allocate additional funding to the ACP. See our “Advocacy” section below for more information on these pathways and how you can get involved.
There are a few key ACP wind-down dates the FCC has highlighted. Those dates are:
- January 11: The FCC released the ACP wind-down order
- January 25: Internet service providers must sent the first of three required notices to households receiving the ACP benefit informing them of the end of the ACP benefit.
- February 7: ACP Enrollment Pause – Eligible households must have been approved and applied their ACP code with an internet service provider by 11:59 PM EST to receive the benefit. Both steps must be completed to be considered enrolled in the ACP. No other applications will be accepted after this date.
- March 4: The FCC announced that the last fully funded month of the program will be April 2024.
- By March 19: Internet service providers must send a second communication to households about the end of the ACP, the last date the benefit will be applied, and what the new cost of their internet will be.
- April: Internet service providers must send their final notice along with the last bill or billing cycle in which the full ACP benefit is applied.
- April 30: The FCC has confirmed that ACP funds will run out at the end of April without additional funding.
“Last fully funded month of the ACP” refers to the last month that ACP households will receive their full ACP benefit (April 2024). Any remaining funds after April may be distributed in May on a reduced basis. This is called “partial funding.”
Each internet service provider decides whether it will provide a reduced benefit. ACP subscribers should reach out directly to their internet service provider for more information.
If additional funding is granted to the ACP, the FCC will provide more information on what happens next. We encourage you to regularly check https://www.fcc.gov/acp for more information.
On February 8th, EducationSuperHighway adjusted our resources to reflect the state of the ACP as follows:
- GetACP.org: Households will not be able to enroll or check their qualification status using GetACP.org. However, households interested in receiving updates about when the program may reopen can fill out this form.
- LearnACP: The course is still available to complete, but please note that newly certified specialists will not be able to enroll households in the ACP after February 7th.
- PromoteACP: Resources will remain available to download. We encourage partner organizations to utilize our advocacy resources to encourage renewal of the ACP.
- ACP Enrollment Dashboard: The dashboard will remain accessible and will be updated with the latest enrollment data as it is released by USAC.
We remain committed to closing the broadband affordability gap and will continue to provide resources outside of ACP. Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed on additional programming offerings and resources.
The best source of accurate and updated information will be the FCC. You can learn more here: www.fcc.gov/acp.
The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), the administrator of the ACP, will also send direct notices to ACP households regarding the wind-down. Households can also call the ACP Support Center directly at 877-384-2575 for more information about their ACP benefit.
EducationSuperHighway will continue to provide updates on the ACP through our No Home Left Offline Coalition Newsletter. If you would like to sign up, click here.
For costs incurred before February 8, 2024 and which are consistent with their Notice of Award and approved project plans, grantees can continue to seek reimbursement.
There will be a funding restriction in PMS for costs incurred after February 8, 2024 until April 30, 2024. During the period grantees are required to submit invoices in the PMS for prior FCC approval before seeking reimbursements within the PMS for allowable costs incurred. Grantees will also be able to seek reimbursement for costs incurred before February 8; however they will have to submit an invoice with a date to substantiate that the costs were incurred before the 8th.
Grantees will not be reimbursed for advance or prepayment of any future expenditures.
Households
As funding for the ACP will run out at the end of April 2024, the FCC had to take steps to wind down the program, and therefore did not take any new applications after February 7th, 2024.
If you were not fully enrolled in an Internet plan before February 7th at 11:59 PM, you will not receive the ACP benefit. This means that you would have had to submit the application, your ACP application status read “qualified” AND applied the benefit to an internet plan by February 7th at 11:59PM ET.
If you are currently enrolled in the ACP (and actively applying the benefit to an Internet service plan), you will continue to receive the benefit until the program runs out of funding, which will be at the end of April 2024. It’s also possible that you may receive some discount after this date until funds fully run out. This is if there is “partial funding” and your provider is participating in that. You can contact your Internet service provider for information on exactly when you should last expect to see an ACP benefit on your monthly benefit bill.
If your ACP benefit ends, we recommend reaching out to your Internet service provider to let them know whether you want to continue with your current service or whether you want to end your service. If you continue service after your ACP benefit ends, you can expect to pay the full price of the plan. When you reach out to your provider, you can ask about low-cost plans and potentially look into switching to a lower-cost plan if you desire. See this checklist of what to ask your provider, as well as scenarios to consider for what to do next.
You can reach out to USAC directly for questions about the wind-down. To do so, you can call the ACP Support Center at 877-384-2575 or go to GetInternet.gov for information about the status of the program. You can also continue to file complaints about ACP billing and service issues through the FCC’s Consumer Complaint Center at https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov.
Yes, you can change your internet plan or end your internet service without termination fees prior to the end of the ACP. The same consumer protections that are present for the ACP will continue to cover you until it ends. Note that once the ACP ends and you decide to continue with internet service, your internet company’s general terms and conditions will apply. This checklist also provides some good additional questions to ask your provider as you decide what to do next.
You will receive at least three notices from your internet company that will tell you the following:
- That the ACP is ending.
- The date of the last bill you will receive your ACP benefit.
- What the new cost of your service plan will be.
Ideally, the information will tell you about other low-cost plans that are available. A reminder that you can change your plan or end your service during this time. Look out for this communication the same way you receive other information from your internet company, such as your monthly bill. This checklist also provides some good additional questions to ask your provider, as well as scenarios to consider, as to what to do next.
There is another federal program that can save you some money on your internet service – Lifeline. You may also qualify for this program (qualifying for Lifeline is a little different than the ACP. Visit https://www.fcc.gov/lifeline-consumers for more information). With Lifeline, you receive a monthly benefit of:
- Up to $9.95 off the cost of phone, internet, or bundled services
- Up to $34.25 off the cost of phone, internet, or bundled services if you live on qualifying Tribal Lands
Visit https://www.lifelinesupport.org/ to enroll. Also be sure to check with your internet company for other low-cost internet service plans.
Check with your internet company to see what low-cost internet plans you have available to you. Also, check out these resources for other low-cost internet plans that may be available in your area.
FCC Grantees
Grantees were able to conduct ACP outreach and assist eligible households with enrollment support until February 7, 2024, at 11:59 PM ET. After February 8, there are no more ACP awareness and enrollment-related activities or campaigns, even those that were paid for prior to the ACP Wind Down Order’s release.
As of February 8, 2024, grant activities may only be related to fulfilling administrative grant processes and requirements (such as financial and program reporting). Wind-down-related outreach and awareness activities, including assisting households with finding alternate low-cost internet plans, are no longer allowed under ACP Outreach Grant Program Funding as of February 8, 2024. See Grant Recipient Wind-down Guidance for more information.
Yes, the FCC will allow for a closeout period. The final end date of the period of performance is April 30, 2024. Grantees will have 120 calendar days to submit all financial, performance and other required FCC reports (August 30, 2024). See the Grant Recipient Wind-down Guidance for more information.
Grant recipients are expected to submit a Q4 and final report. This includes submitting the Performance Progress Report (PPR), PPR-Supplemental, and Federal Financial Report (FFR). Grantees will have partially funded activities to report between January 1, 2024 through February 7, 2024 at 11:59 PM ET, and administrative activities to report between January 1 and April 30, 2024. The final report is due August 30, 2024. See the Grant Recipient Wind-down Guidance for more information.
Grant recipients may only engage in activities related to fulfilling administrative requirements of the grant cycle, such as, but not limited to, financial and reporting requirements, maintaining up-to-date key personnel information, attending FCC meetings, monitoring activities, and conducting closeout activities, if necessary.
Grantees can use their funding to pay salary and fringe benefits associated with personnel involved in the above mentioned activities.
Any grant-funded activities associated with increasing awareness of and participation in the ACP among eligible households will not be permissible. Grant recipients are prohibited from incurring new obligations/entering any new contracts for any allowable activities to be conducted after 11:59 PM ET, February 7, 2024. All previously unallowable costs listed in program NOFOs, the FCC Grants Manual, and FCC Terms and Conditions, remain unallowable.
The following, details specific activities that are unallowable (this is not an exhaustive list):
- Conducting wind-down related outreach and awareness activities is not an allowable use of grant funding
- Compensation (salary and benefits) for personnel whose time is spent exclusively planning and executing ACP outreach activities and/or in-person ACP application enrollment assistance
- Travel to and from ACP application enrollment events
- Materials required to host in-person ACP enrollment events and physical awareness and marketing materials
- Costs associated with placement of ACP advertisement on digital platforms
- Costs associated with development and production of digital campaigns
- In-language translation of outreach materials and costs associated with making materials accessible to individuals with disabilities
- Light refreshments for outreach events
- Facilities rental costs
- Costs associated with consumer research and focus groups
NOTE: The grant recipient is responsible for any maintenance costs and subscriptions associated with IT hardware, systems or supplies purchased using grant funding.
All ACP Outreach Grant recipients, to include NCOP, TCOP, YHYI, and NPP, will have a new period of performance end date of April 30, 2024. The revised period of performance takes into account the wind-down of the ACP and provides grantees time to complete any necessary administrative tasks, such as fulfilling reporting requirements. This new date supersedes each grant recipient’s period of performance end date noted in their Notice of Award.
For costs incurred before February 8, 2024 and which are consistent with their Notice of Award and approved project plans, grantees can continue to seek reimbursement.
There will be a funding restriction in PMS for costs incurred after February 8, 2024 until April 30, 2024. During the period grantees are required to submit invoices in the PMS for prior FCC approval before seeking reimbursements within the PMS for allowable costs incurred. Grantees will also be able to seek reimbursement for costs incurred before February 8; however they will have to submit an invoice with a date to substantiate that the costs were incurred before the 8th.
Grantees will not be reimbursed for advance or prepayment of any future expenditures.
- February 5, 2024: Grantee Wind Down Guidance Acknowledgement due to the FCC by 6:00 PM ET
- February 8, 2024:
- Application and enrollments will no longer be processed
- Changes to allowable and unallowable costs go into effect
- February 15, 2024: The FCC will place funding restriction on grantee accounts
- April 1, 2024: Second Grantee Closeout Notice sent to all grantees
- April 30, 2024:
- Last day to seek reimbursements; grant recipients must liquidate all financial obligations
- Final financial and performance reports due
- September 1, 2024: Funding restrictions placed on all remaining, unspent funds in PMS
Advocacy
Yes, and it remains our most powerful tool to convince lawmakers to lend their support to ACP renewal. Congressional offices often tell us they aren’t sure how important the program is to their constituents because they are not hearing from their district about this issue like they hear about others. Congressional offices track every social media post, call, voicemail, email, and meeting; the more ACP appears on that tracker, the better. The easiest, and truly most effective way, to influence your representatives to support ACP is by reaching out and making your voice heard.
Make your voice heard! Now is the time to let Congress know how important the ACP is to you and/or your community!
- Call your member(s) of Congress with: “Please support and vote for HR 6929/S.3565 to allow the ACP to continue.” By citing the specific bill number, the request becomes actionable for the staffers, who can then go directly to the legislation and consider it.
- If you are enrolled in the ACP, share your personal story of how ACP is benefiting you during that call.
- If you are a digital equity advocate or organization, tell your member(s) of Congress how losing the ACP will impact the members of your community.
- Ideally, you can speak with someone in your congressional office. If not – leave a voicemail indicating that you tried to call during normal business hours and could not get through. If so, follow up with an email (typically available via a contact form on the member’s website).
- Request a meeting – Request an in-person meeting with a staff member or the member(s) of Congress. Use our template for tips and information about scheduling a meeting.
Check the status of your member(s) of Congress co-sponsoring the bill:
Use our tools and resources to support your advocacy efforts!
- ACP Renewal Talking Points: Use these during your call or meeting, and in particular share information about how critical the ACP is to closing the affordability gap.
- State 2 pagers: Provide your member(s) of Congress with local data about what losing this important benefit means. Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
- Social Media Toolkit: Use the suggested graphics and captions to post to your social media. Don’t forget to tag your Senator or Representative.
- Advocacy Template Letter: Urge your representatives to co-sponsor the bill.
- Impact Stories Form: Complete this form so that we can elevate the story of how ACP is benefiting you or your community.
- Advocacy in Action: Communicating with Congressional Leaders webinar presentation and recording.
My name is << First Name >> << Last Name >>. I am contacting you as a concerned constituent of << State >> to urge you to support the Affordable Connectivity Program or ACP by co-sponsoring HR 6929/S.3565.
Your constituents need your support! The ACP has helped more than 23 million low-income households nationwide to get and stay online, but funding is set to run out at the end of April.
If Congress fails to fund this program, these households will face an unaffordable increase in their monthly internet bill and may be forced offline.
