Add Creative Financing to Your Budget Strategy

Thanks for following our 2017 E-rate and funding blog series. Did you get your Form 470 posted? Today is the last date applicants can file a Funding Year 2017 Form 470 while still allowing the required 28 days for competitive bidding. If you missed this important deadline, or if E-rate is not going to cover everything you need for your digital learning environment (which it likely will not), we are here to help.

Have you considered financing? We would like to start off by reminding you that you cannot pay for or pay off E-rate projects using financing. However, you can and should consider financing other projects and/or expenses. Why, you ask? Financing could be a viable option for projects you had earmarked for cash, such as school buses and other capital equipment. Using financing for these types of purchases could free up cash for you to use for technology projects. Financing is also a great solution if your E-rate funding falls through, enabling you to still move forward with your planned project.

Schools can now take advantage of the Public Sector Financing Program from Cisco Capital. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, we specialize in providing innovative financing options for Cisco products and services. Our flexible financing options can help you take advantage of unique, below market financing and leasing rates to deploy new technology today using your existing and future budgets. Find out more about Cisco Capital financing options here.

Thanks again for tuning into our E-rate and funding blog series. We look forward to hearing about your successful digital learning initiatives, made possible by E-rate funding and/or alternative funding options like Cisco Capital. Please reach out to your local Cisco account manager or public funding advisor if you have questions or need further assistance.