A consortium is a group of entities that apply together, usually to aggregate demand in order to lower prices. A statewide application is when a state’s purchasing department (or other state agency) applies on behalf of all schools and libraries in the state.

Calculate a consortium’s discount

To calculate the discount for a consortium or statewide application:

1. List each member of the consortium or statewide application together with its discount, using the school calculation method or library calculation method as appropriate.
2. Add the discounts and divide by the number of members to find the simple average of the members’ discounts.
   • Round decimals less than 0.5 down to the nearest whole number, and round up decimals 0.5 or greater.

The discount is a simple average of the member discounts, regardless of whether each individual member has an urban or rural status, and regardless of the size of each member organization.

The discount level can vary between forms

If all members are included on a funding request (FCC Form 471), all members will receive the same, consortium-level discount on the services. But, the discount level can vary between funding request forms.

If you are only including a select number of consortium members on an FCC Form 471 (funding request form), the discount for all the services on the form will be the simple average of only the members you are including on the form.

When you begin the application form online, the first step for a consortium is to select which members will be included on the form. There is a checkbox for “all members,” or you can de-select the box and include only certain members.

Statewide applications

Discounts for state-wide applications are calculated the same way as consortium discounts, that is, a simple average of the included entities’ discounts. Similarly, discount levels can vary between funding request forms based on which entities are included.

Learn more on the Discount Calculations page of The E-rate Program website.

There’s also a webinar recording about this topic:

Webinar Recording: Simplifying Discount Calculations (25:54 minutes)

Next week, we’ll talk about Category Two budgets (internal connections, managed internal broadband services, and basic maintenance of internal connections).

 

Editor’s note: If you submitted FCC Form 470 on the same day we wrote about it on the blog (March 3), then at this point you’ll be in the 28-day waiting period. During the 28-day period, we’re covering general information about program rules and topics that are important to know about. We’ll begin posting about FCC Form 471, the funding request form, starting the week of April 4.