Cowabunga

The first wave is out!  And it's a big one.  USAC's New Brief on the subject says that over half of the applications got an FCDL.  We've had bigger waves, but we've never had one this large so early.

It's definitely the low-hanging fruit.  Why do I say that?

1. The News Brief  says that commitments were issued for 18,500 applications and 24,000 FRNs.  So they vast majority of the applications approved had 1 FRN.  
2. While over half the applications were funded, only 18% of the requested funding was committed. So the amount of funding per application was way below the average.
3. Only 6% of the funding is for Category 2, while 34% of the funding requested was for C2. So they avoided C2 for the most part.

Here's a table to put this wave in historical perspective.

FY	Window close	Days passed	PIA approved	Days passed	First FCDL	Total days	Million	Apps
2019	3/27/19	0	3/27/2019	31	4/27/19	31	$530	18,500
2018	3/22/18	6	3/28/2018	23	4/20/2018	29	$501*	15,033*
2017	5/11/2017	1	5/12/2017	14	5/26/2017	15	$47	4,919
2016	5/26/2016	14	6/9/2016	7	6/16/2016	21	$17	2,251
2015	4/16/2015	-27	3/20/2015	62	5/21/2015	35	$151	7,100
2014	3/26/2014	-19	3/7/2014	69	5/15/2014	50	$607	14,600
2013	3/14/2013	57	5/10/2013	19	5/29/2013	76	$130	12,023
2012	3/20/2012	35	4/24/2012	77	7/10/2012	112	$646	23,800
2011	3/24/2011	75	6/7/2011	19	6/26/2011	94	$398	18,500
2010	2/11/2010	91	5/13/2010	13	5/26/2010	104	$429	18,200
2009	2/12/2009	49	4/2/2009	26	4/28/2009	75	$134	6,931
2008	2/7/2008	63	4/10/2008	21	5/1/2008	84	$352	10,000
2007	2/8/2007				4/23/2007	74	$202	21,000
2006	2/16/2006				4/26/2006	69	$184	4,880
2005	2/17/2005				6/27/2005	130	$342	7,700
2004	2/4/2004				4/27/2004	83	$43
2003	1/16/2003				5/1/2003	105	$230
2002	1/17/2002				4/24/2002	97	$233	9,300
2001	1/18/2001				7/23/2001	186	$478
2000	1/19/2000				4/14/2000	86	$253	13,000
1999	3/11/1999				7/13/1999	124	$116	6,000
1998					11/23/1998		$73	3,000

*The FY 2018 first wave was released it on in two waves, on 4/20 and 4/21; I'm counting those as one wave.