Internet Service: Affordable Connectivity Program

Recommendations for families applying for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) for the best chance of a successful application to GCI and ACS.

Initial Application

In the ACP application, make sure to select “qualify with child” not “I qualify by myself.”
1. I qualify by myself, meaning eligibility is determined through the parents’ income and at the end of the application, there will be an "eligibility could not be determined" message and it will ask for income documents to be submitted.
2. By qualifying for a child, you can select Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) for free and reduced meals eligible school and avoid altogether the income documents needing to be submitted.
  - If the school is not listed, there is a text box in which to type in the name of the school.
  - This is the case for West High School, which does not appear in the drop-down list of schools.
    If the student receives free and reduced-priced meals, this is your best option.
3. All households with a child who was approved to receive free or reduced price meals under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) or the School Breakfast Program (SBP) within the last 12 months, including children who attend Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) schools, are eligible for ACP benefits.
4. Here is the link to the ASD schools participating in CEP program for the 2022-23 School Year. The CEP program is part of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). A current Free & Reduced Price Meal letter or a CEP letter from the enrolled student's school combined with a copy of the student's report card can be used as qualifiers for ACP benefits.
Next, if the school is not on the drop-down list, you will be asked to submit information confirming the student is receiving free and reduced meals in his/her school.
1. Submit the Free and Reduced Lunches Letter parents received in the mail.
When you submit the ACP application, after you select the option for alternate email, you can add your email so that you and the parents both receive status updates on the completed application.
Once the application has been approved, the ACP sends an email saying you have been approved.
1. This email is especially important. It has the child’s name, application ID #, parent name, how identity was confirmed, as well as general information about the ACP program.
  - If the parent selected Spanish as their preferred language in the ACP application, the approval letter will be written in Spanish.

Navigating GCI

GCI has this website for getting signed up with ACP with GCI:

https://www.gci.com/internet/affordable-connectivity-program

Additional helpful information for GCI:

If the parent speaks Tagalog or Spanish, there are options on the main GCI customer Service line, 1 800 800 4800 for both.
1. Press 2 for Tagalog and Press 3 for Spanish on the verbal phone tree menu when calling.
Make sure the parent knows the ACP application ID # when calling so that GCI can apply the discount.
A GCI representative will then help the family to create a GCI account, apply the discount if they qualified, and establish a new internet service in their home.