FY 2026 Form 471 Filing Window Dates Announced
Good morning E-Rate Community,
We have the dates! USAC has just announced that the FY2026 Form 471 Application Window dates will be January 21, 2026, at 12:00 p.m. (ET) and will close April 1, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. (ET). January 16, 2026, is the close of the Admin Window. This is the last day you can update your profile information in EPC.
Form 470 Deadline: The deadline to submit and certify the FY2026 Form 470 is Wednesday, March 4, 2026. This will allow you to wait the required minimum 28-day period before submitting and certifying your FY2026 Form 471 by the April 1, 2026, deadline.
A couple more things to to know:
Updating EPC Profiles – The period before the Form 471 window opens, when schools and libraries are required to update their enrollment and NSLP (or CEP%) data each year to recalculate their E-Rate discounts and make sure their EPC profiles are up to date, is called the Admin Window. As mentioned above, the Admin Window deadline for FY2026 is Friday, January 16th. If you are participating in CEP, you can find the most current version of the CEP Only MR-81 document at CEP Only MR-81 Data for Base Years 2022 – 2025. The document includes enrollment, CEP %, and Base Year data.
Updating Category 2 Enrollment/Square Footage: C2 budgets are calculated based on the C2 multiplier. Starting with the new FY2026 – FY2030 C2 budget cycle, the multiplier is $201.57/student for schools and $5.43/sq ft for libraries – or a minimum of $30,175/building, based on the Category 2 enrollment or library square footage from the first year that you receive Category 2 funding in the new budget cycle. If you’re applying for C2 in FY2026, the school enrollment or library square footage must be updated. That number will then be locked in for the 5-year budget cycle. If your enrollment drops later in the cycle, the budget will not decrease. However, if enrollment or square footage increases later in the cycle, you can update the count to increase your budget.
Eligible Services List Adopted – The FCC has approved the FY2026 Eligible Services List (ESL) and adopted the change to include software-based services, including bug fixes, security patches, software-based technical assistance, and configuration changes, under the Internal Connections equipment they support, rather than as basic maintenance! This includes multi-year license renewals that often include support and were previously funded under BMIC. This change is a tremendous help for E-Rate applicants, bringing greater clarity to one of the areas of the program most prone to errors: software and remote services. By consolidating these services under Internal Connections, the FCC has reduced the risk of misclassification and the loss of funds!
- Please note that Fixed maintenance contracts (on-site configuration changes and time and materials) will continue to be eligible for funding under BMIC, but only for the work that is actually performed under the contract
FY2026 Form 471 Training – Now that we have the filing dates, I will get busy setting up the Form 471 training sessions and will send out an email with the registration information ASAP. There will be a number of changes to the form, so please plan on attending.
If you have questions, or need additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me at lorrie.germann@education.ohio.gov.
Wishing you all a very happy holiday season!
Sincerely,
Lorrie
Lorrie Germann
State E-Rate Coordinator
On behalf of the Ohio Department of Education
lorrie.germann@education.ohio.gov
www.ohio-k12.help/erate
Office: 740-223-2420
Cell: 740-253-1153