ACP Adoption Rates Lag, Especially in Upper Midwest

According to information provided by Education Superhighway, only 25% of Americans who are eligible for the Affordable Connectivity Program have signed up to receive the monthly benefit designed to help offset broadband costs.

Some states are doing better than the national average, with Ohio leading the way among states at 35% (Puerto Rico, a US territory, has a 48% adoption rate). And certainly some states are doing worse than the national average. In particular, a cluster of states in the northern Great Plains are lagging in getting ACP adopted.

• North Dakota - 7%
• South Dakota - 10%
• Iowa - 13%
• Montana - 15%
• ​Nebraska - 18%
• Minnesota- 19%

Education Superhighway identifies three key barriers to ACP adoption. Awareness of the program is lacking and those that do know about it stuggle to understand the eligibility requirements. Trust is identified as a big issue as well. Other key barriers to enrolling in the program include a lack of internet access to do the signup process, a long and complicated application itself, and the enrollment forms are only available in English and Spanish.