The $3.26 billion schools and libraries left unspent
A third of the 2021 to 2025 equipment budget expired unused. Applicants who filed alone left far more behind.
Every school and library gets a five-year E-rate budget for the network equipment inside its buildings. The 2021 to 2025 cycle closed in June 2026. We added up what was left in USAC's published budget data.
The numbers
- $10.64 billion in total five-year budgets across 33,207 budget holders.
- $7.31 billion committed, and $71 million still pending.
- $3.26 billion, 31%, left unused when the cycle closed.
- About 12,000 budget holders used none of theirs.
Help made the difference
Splitting the budget holders by whether a consultant is on file shows the sharpest gap in the data. Applicants with a consultant left 26% of their budget unused. Applicants without one left 46%: $1.08 billion of $2.34 billion.
Not every unused dollar is a mistake. Some schools had new equipment already and needed nothing. But a 20-point gap across tens of thousands of budget holders says guidance changes outcomes.
The next cycle is open now
The 2026 to 2030 cycle started this July with larger budgets: $201.57 per student, up from $167, with a minimum of $30,175. After its first year, $10.02 billion of $12.39 billion is still open. The clock on it runs to June 2030.
To see your own number, look up your school or library on E-Rate Keeper. Your report shows last cycle's unused budget and what is open in this one.
Any school, district or library: what was approved, paid, left unspent and still unclaimed.