T-Mobile's Project 10Million & HBCUs: Leading the Way to Digital Access
T-Mobile's Project 10Million & HBCUs: Leading the Way to Digital Access
In collaboration with the National Collaborative For Digital Equity (NCDE) and MERLOT, the HBCU Affordable Learning Solutions (AL$) community will be leveraging the wonderful resources and technologies of T-Mobile's Project 10Million.
The NCDE team provided in introductory webinar to the HBCU-AL$ leadership team in February 2025 about the T-Mobile Hotspot program and HBCUs provided feedback about the ways they could adopt and adapt the T-Mobile Hotspot program.
MERLOT's webinar for HBCUs describes the T-Mobile Project10Million and explains how HBCUs can leverage this wonderful program to support their communities. MERLOT also describes how HBCUs can create campus-branded websites using MERLOT Content Builder to support their campus programs.
Project 10Million Overview**: T-Mobile's Project 10Million aims to provide free internet access to students. You can find more details about the program - (https://www.t-mobile.com/brand/project-10-million).
FAMILIES - LEARN HOW TO APPLY!
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENT: Children in K-12 can qualify for Project 10Million through eligibility for the National School Lunch Program, which also can be verified through participation in many government programs, including:
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
- Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR)
- Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)
- Medicaid
- Head Start
- Foster youth, migrant homeless, or runaway youth.
- MORE about Eligibility requirements for parents
Parents/guardians must upload proof dated within two years of their participation in an eligible assistance program to complete their application and be considered for acceptance. You will also be asked to provide the following:
- Your full name, email, and shipping address (sorry, no PO boxes or military addresses)
- Your student’s ID, school name, and district name
- A PIN number and language preference for your account (English or Spanish)
- Clear photos or digital copies of documents, cards, and letters are accepted as proof of program participation. Student ID cards and blurry or low-quality images are not acceptable.
Need help with your application? Get assistance by visiting your local T-Mobile store.
- School Administrators can create opportunities for distirbution of hotspots. School administrators can complete a request for hotspots that the school would distribute to the eligible families with K-12 students in their district. Your campus' K-12 partners can an excellent means for distributing hotspots at scale.
QUESTIONS ABOUT T-Mobile's PROJECT 10M?
The HBCU AL$ Leadership will be scheduling periodic, virtual meetings for updating and sharing strategies for leveraging the T-Mobile 10 Million Initiative.
- We'll be sending emails and posting information here in the future.
- We'll be posting strategies and plans from HBCUs for how they are leveraging the T-Mobile Hotspots. For example:
- Your incoming freshmen are still high school students so many might be eligible.
- Many of your existing students might have siblings still in K-12 so many of them might be eligible.
- Your campus has dual enrollment programs so many of those students might be eligible.
- Your campus has partnerships with K-12 programs and K-12 after-school programs, so many of these programs could partner in the outreach campaign to serve those who might be eligible.
- Your Teacher Education alumni teaching in K-12 have students in their classes who might be eligible and the alumni could work with the school administrator to apply for all those students in their school.
To Get READY, Get ORGANIZED with a campus collaborative strategy
- Here's a STARTER PLAN for organizing and approving a taskforce for coordinating the many units on your campus who can be participating in the T-Mobile HotSpot plan. Download it and customize it for your campus.
- Here's a Checklist for your T-Mobile HotSpot Plan for developing your outreach/marketing plans and your support services plan. Download and use it to support your planning and implementation!
WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR OWN CAMPUS-BRANDED HBCU AL$- T-Mobile Hotspot Website?
- See Morehouse College's website
- See Albany State University's website
- Send a request to gerry.hanley@csulb.edu that describes your campus plan and provide the email of one person who will be coordinating the website for your campus. This person will have to register as a MERLOT member at www.merlot.org
If you'd like more information from NCDE, please contact
NCDE Website Bob McLaughlin Jenelle Leonard
