Connie Bryant of McCreary County first got internet at her home during the pandemic when she and her family began homeschooling her granddaughter.

Bryant might lose her connection this April when the Affordable Connectivity Program, a $14.2 billion federal service providing internet access to lower-income households and those living in rural areas across the United States, is expected to end.

“I didn’t even have internet until they came up with this program,” Bryant said. “I couldn’t afford it.”

Bryant, a retiree, said she receives around $1,250 per month from Social Security and disability benefits. The program allows qualifying households to get up to $30 off their internet bill each month, and up to $100 off the purchase of a laptop, tablet or desktop computer.

“Thirty dollars doesn’t sound like a lot but it is to us,” Bryant said. “I just wish they’d understand that.”

Twenty-three million households across the country are enrolled in the program. Out of 19,328 households eligible to join the program in Warren County, 14,649 are currently enrolled. In southcentral Kentucky, 22,966 households are enrolled.

Jessica Denson, communications director for Connected Nation, a Bowling Green nonprofit that seeks to improve access to broadband across the United States, said the program began during the COVID-19 pandemic as the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, later growing into ACP.

“The issue with it is that Congress has not funded it again,” Denson said.

ACP stopped taking new applications on Feb. 7, and the last fully funded month of the program is April 2024. Households currently enrolled in the program will continue to draw benefits until the program ends, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

“That may not seem a lot to some of us, but $50 a month (for internet) may be a lot if you’re choosing between eating and not.”

ACP is not the only resource available to low-income internet users. The FCC has a separate program called Lifeline which, like ACP, provides low-cost internet access. According to the FCC, those who qualified for ACP could combine benefits with Lifeline.

Denson said some view internet connection as “a privilege,” but the pandemic “showed us that’s not the case.”

“You could really be in a world of hurt if you don’t have access like other people do,” Denson said.

Denson said there are ways to make ACP permanent alongside more government funding. She said one method is through the Universal Service Fund.

According to the FCC, the USF is a reserve paid for by telecommunications providers which originally funded the expansion of nationwide radio and telephone service in the early 1930s.

Denson said since tools like education, health care and employment are now reliant upon internet connection, Connected Nation feels the USF should be used to cover ACP.

To fund the program for another year, the price falls between $7 billion and $8 billion. She said even at that high a figure, it would be a “band-aid,” and the consensus is reform to the USF is needed to sustain the program.

“(Internet connection) opens up a lot of possibilities for you to improve your life,” she said.

She said Connected Nation has been working with other nonprofits around the country to inform the public about the ACP wind-down, including the National Digital Inclusion Association, the Boys and Girls Club and the YMCA.

For those who face disconnection, she said the best thing to do is let elected officials know about the importance of ACP before it’s too late.

“We say that about a lot of things, but this is one that’s going to really impact people in the wallet at home,” Denson said.

Joel Thayer, president of the Digital Progress Institute, said part of the reason for delaying further funding is due to several perceived issues with the program.

“I don’t hear anyone saying we want to get rid of the program,” Thayer said. “Folks are trying to figure out what amendments they should make to the program, how they should tailor it and what it should look like before we give it more money.”

He said many of the issues with the program have been raised by Republicans in Congress, who argue the program is too susceptible to fraud and abuse by those who don’t need the benefits.

“Republicans are arguing that it should be pared down a little bit to be a more need-based program, as opposed to a windfall to any individual who wants broadband,” Thayer said. “I think we are starting to see those conversations happen. I think they’re becoming more productive.”