AURORA | More students in Aurora’s two public school districts are using a program that offers discounted Internet and computers to low-income families than in any other Colorado district outside of Denver, according to new data from Comcast.
Last year, Aurora Public Schools and the Cherry Creek School District had the fourth and fifth highest penetration rates, respectively, in the state for the Comcast Internet Essentials program, which offers discounted broadband Internet and in-home computers to qualifying low-income families, according to Comcast data.
The two school districts have had 4,770 combined students enroll in the program since it was launched in 2011. Only Denver Public Schools has enrolled more students in the program in the same timeframe with 6,206 enrollees.
Internet Essentials offers in-home Broadband Internet for $10 per month to families with students who qualify for free and reduced lunch. Families also have the option of purchasing a computer for $150 upon enrollment, according to Comcast spokeswoman Leslie Oliver. Oliver said that students and families learn about the program through brochures distributed in class as well as through community organizations such as Mi Casa Resource Center, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
For the 2015 school year, 977 APS students were enrolled in Internet Essentials, according to the Comcast data. The same data said that APS has had the second highest number of students enrolled in the program across the state since 2011, with 3,123 students enrolled. The district’s four-year penetration rate, or user rate, is 38 percent.
“We have about 70 percent of our students who qualify for free and reduced lunch, so it’s certainly not a surprise that we would be a district that has this many families signed up for Comcast Internet Essentials,” said Patti Moon, spokeswoman for APS. “One of the things we focus on in our schools is 21st century skills and learning … this really is a great community partnership to grow that.”
In Cherry Creek, 315 students were enrolled in Internet Essentials in 2015, according to Comcast. A total of 1,647 Cherry Creek students of 4,404 eligible enrollees have participated in the program since 2011, for a four-year penetration rate of 37 percent.
“Districtwide, the Cherry Creek School District averages about 30 percent free and reduced lunch, but we have 18 schools that meet the 40 percent and above threshold to qualify for the program,” said Tustin Amole, spokeswoman for CCSD. “Comcast’s Internet Essentials program provides families at those schools with the kind of access they need to be successful in school and beyond.”
Comcast has steadily lowered the eligibility requirements for the program since its launch in 2011. Originally, the program was exclusively offered to students who qualified for free meals from the National School Lunch Program. Now, the Internet access program is available to students who qualify for reduced price meals, students in alternative schooling environments like private and charter schools, as well as low-income community college students in some states, according to Oliver. The program is also available to students who attend a school in which at least 40 percent of the student body is eligible for the National School Lunch Program.
Students living in a household of four people qualify for reduced price meals if the household’s annual income is $44,863 or less, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service guidelines for the 2015-16 school year. The same report states that a student is eligible to receive free meals if a household of the same size earns $31,525 or less in a year.