E-Rate Category 2 budget calculator.
Pick an entity type, enter student count or library square footage, and see the five-year Category 2 budget under the FCC's FY2026–FY2030 cycle. The calculator applies the floor amount automatically when the multiplier-based result falls below it.
Schools use a per-student multiplier; libraries use a per-square-foot multiplier.
FY2026–FY2030 is one C2 cycle. The same multipliers apply across all five years.
Use the enrollment count reported on the applicant's most recent EPC profile.
The multiplier-based calculation is above the floor, so the calculated amount applies as the five-year budget.
Estimate based on the FCC's FY2026 Eligible Services List and Public Notice for the FY2026–FY2030 Category 2 cycle: $201.57 per student for schools, $5.43 per square foot for libraries, $30,175 floor ($66,385 for tribal libraries). Multipliers and floor amounts are set by the FCC and refreshed for each new five-year cycle. Verify the authoritative current figures and your applicant's confirmed student count or square footage with USAC before relying on this for a specific filing.
How the Category 2 budget works
Every E-Rate applicant — every school and every library — gets a Category 2 budget that runs on a five-funding-year cycle. The FY2026–FY2030 cycle is one such window. Schools' budgets are calculated on a per-student basis; libraries' budgets are calculated on a per-square-foot basis.
For very small applicants, the multiplier-based calculation can produce a budget too small to fund any meaningful internal- connections project. The FCC addresses this with a floor — a minimum five-year budget that every eligible applicant receives even if their calculated budget would otherwise fall below it. Tribal libraries receive a higher floor.
Within the five-year cycle, applicants can spread their Category 2 spending however they like — front-loading a refresh in year one, splitting evenly across years, or saving for a major project late in the cycle. Unused budget carries forward inside the cycle but resets when the next five-year window begins.
FY2026–FY2030 figures
The FCC published the following Category 2 figures for the FY2026–FY2030 cycle in the FY2026 Eligible Services List and the related Public Notice:
- $201.57 per student (schools)
- $5.43 per square foot (libraries)
- $30,175 floor amount for schools and most libraries
- $66,385 floor amount for tribal libraries
These multipliers and floor amounts apply across the entire FY2026–FY2030 cycle and reset when the FCC sets new figures for the next cycle.
Sized opportunities, not just open Form 470s.
ERateSignal joins applicants' Category 2 budgets to live Form 470 data so you can prioritize the districts with budget remaining inside the current cycle.
Form 470 alerts →This calculator estimates the five-year Category 2 budget using the per-student and per-square-foot multipliers and floor amounts that the FCC published for the FY2026–FY2030 cycle. Figures are an editorial-cadence reference and should be re-verified against the current FCC Eligible Services List and USAC Category 2 Budget Tool for any specific filing. The tool does not account for consortium weighting, library-system inheritance rules, mid-cycle eligibility changes, or pre-existing C2 commitments that reduce remaining budget. ERateSignal is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by USAC, the FCC, or the U.S. Government.