Lifeline Qualifications

On February 6, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its Lifeline Reform Order (FCC 12-11), making significant changes to the Lifeline program. The order established a uniform floor of eligibility requirements, while allowing individial states to establish more permissive eligibility criteria.

You qualify for Lifeline benefits if you are currently enrolled in one or more of the baseline programs listed below or, have a household income at or below 135% of the federal poverty level (see table below). Your state may have other assistance programs not listed below that could also qualify you.
To receive lifeline benefits based on program eligility, you will be required to provide proof of participation in that program. To receive benefits based on your household income, you will need to provide proof of income.

If you are not enrolled in one of the above programs, use the table below to calculate your elibility based on income. You will be required to provide current documentation that shows your household* income.

2013 Federal Poverty Guidelines - 135%

# in Household	Contiguous 48 / DC	Hawaii	Alaska
1	$15,511	$17,860	$19,372
2	$20,938	$24,097	$26,163
3	$26,365	$30,334	$32,953
4	$31,792	$36,571	$39,744
5	$37,219	$42,808	$45,590
6	$42,646	$49,045	$53,325
7	$48,073	$55,282	$60,115
8	$53500	$61,519	$66,906
Each Add't Person	$5,427	$6,237	$6,790

Source: Federal Register

*Household is defined as "any individual or group of individuals who are living together at the same address as one economic unit".
Economic unit is defined as "all adult individuals contributing to and sharing in the income and expenses of a household".