What is Category 2 Budget?
Published May 8, 2026
The Category 2 budget caps how much an applicant can receive in Category 2 commitments over a five-year cycle. The cap is calculated from a per-student multiplier — or per-square-foot for libraries — with a floor amount set by the FCC. Once the budget is exhausted, the applicant must wait for the next cycle.
How is the C2 budget calculated?
The FCC sets a per-student multiplier and a floor amount that are inflation-adjusted periodically. Schools multiply the per-student amount by their student count and apply the floor where the result would otherwise be lower. Libraries use a per-square-foot multiplier with a similar floor.
The output is a pre-discount budget. The applicant's discount rate from the discount matrix then determines how much of that budget USAC will actually fund.
How is the budget spent over five years?
The budget runs on a fixed five-year cycle. An applicant can use the entire budget in a single funding year or spread it across all five — there's no per-year sub-cap. Unused budget rolls forward within the cycle but does not roll across cycles.
Once a five-year cycle ends, a new budget is calculated using the then-current FCC multipliers and floor.
Where can I see C2 budget data?
USAC publishes the Category 2 Budget Tool publicly. Per-applicant C2 budget data — including total budget, committed-to-date, and remaining — is in open-data dataset 6brt-5pbv.
Common questions
- What's the per-student multiplier for the current cycle?
- The FCC sets and adjusts the multiplier and floor. Check USAC's Category 2 Budget Tool on usac.org for the current cycle's numbers.
- Does the C2 budget reset each funding year?
- No. The budget runs on a five-year cycle. Resets happen at the end of the cycle, not annually.
- What if an applicant exhausts the C2 budget?
- The applicant cannot receive additional Category 2 commitments until the next five-year cycle starts. Category 1 funding is unaffected.
- Are libraries on the same calculation as schools?
- Libraries use a per-square-foot multiplier instead of per-student. The five-year cycle and floor-amount mechanics are otherwise the same.
Track this in real product data.
ERateSignal turns the public USAC datasets behind Category 2 Budget into a working tool for E-Rate sellers — Form 470 alerts, SPIN market share, and territory analytics on the apex domain.
This entry summarizes publicly available FCC and USAC guidance for educational purposes and is not legal or procurement advice. Verify all information directly with USAC or qualified counsel before making business decisions. ERateSignal is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by USAC, the FCC, or the U.S. Government.