The cost figures used here are based on unpublished statistical runs of the Hatfield Model and BCPM run by Mark Cooper for the Center for Media Education. Historically, each state could define its own threshold for need. However, the May 1997 Universal Service Order from the FCC standardizes the definition of need for states that wish to receive federal Universal Service assistance. Of course, this same report likens the importance of telecommunications to that of washing machines, entirely missing the point that telecommunications services are increasingly the communications ties that bind our society together. See Cato Report, ibid.
Poverty is measured in schools by using the eligibility for the school lunch program.
Non-metropolitan counties are eligible for slightly deeper discounts that metropolitan counties. In fact, the FCC has made significant revisions to the program in order to meet the legitimate concerns of various critics. The program has also been subject to several audits, by both private consulting firms and the Government Accounting Office. As a result, many of the applications that were filed will receive less funding than they had originally been promised. A Report from the National Schools Boards Association, July, 1998.