Alumni Email Services

To date, over 75k UC Berkeley alumni have renewed their accounts.

Beginning August 29, 2024, the remaining 56k alumni accounts that have not been renewed since the announcement in March 2024 will be canceled and scheduled for deletion.

To learn more about the changes to Alumni Email Services visit: Google Cost Reduction Project(opens in a new tab),

If you did not renew your @berkeley.edu email address please see the  below email communication that was sent to your @berkeley.edu(opens in a new tab) email account this past Spring and visit the Berkeley IT Knowledge Base(opens in a new tab) for the answer to:

As an alum, can I get a Berkeley CalNet or email account?

 

Prior Notifications to Alumni Email Account Users

On March 6, 2024, all UC Berkeley alumni with an active @berkeley.edu(opens in a new tab) email address received a communication from bconnected@berkeley.edu outlining changes to Berkeley’s Alumni Email Service. The text of thatemailcommunication is available online(opens in a new tab) and pasted below for reference. Multiple reminders were sent up to and through the April 15, 2024 deadline for renewing an alumni email account.

Subject Line: Action Required: Changes to Berkeley’s Alumni Email Service
Send Date: Beginning March 6, 2024
To: All alumni with an active @berkeley.edu(opens in a new tab) email address
From: bconnected@berkeley.edu

Dear UC Berkeley Alum,

We are writing to notify you about a few changes to the email services you receive as a Cal alum. Please follow the steps below to retain your berkeley.edu(opens in a new tab) email address.

Next Steps

To ensure uninterrupted access to your Berkeley-provided email:

Learn more and get additional information about AlumniEmailChanges(opens in a new tab)

Why are changes to alumni email accounts needed?

Effective Nov. 1, 2024, Google will no longer provide unlimited storage to its education customers. In preparation for this change, Berkeley is undertaking an extensive effort to manage new costs associated with storing data across all its Google accounts.

Unlike many other universities that are retiring alumni email services in response to this change, campus leadership has decided to continue offering email services to existing alumni account holders and future graduates. This decision was informed by feedback from alumni and students.

Key Considerations

After conducting an extensive review that included feedback from alumni, students, faculty, and staff three considerations emerged:

    1. Retain alumni connections: Many alumni value continued access to their berkeley.edu(opens in a new tab) email address as one way they identify themselves as Berkeley graduates.

    2. Control costs: Berkeley needs to manage the additional costs associated with the new storage pricing model offered to Google Workspace Education customers.

    3. Manage risks and threats: Berkeley needs to manage the security and reputational risks and threats posed by unattended and possibly compromised alumni email accounts.

What is changing?

In response to these considerations, Berkeley’s alumni email service will continue but with some changes:

    1. Annual renewals: Alumni will be required to review and accept terms of service annually.

    2. Storage Limits: Alumni accounts will be limited to 5 GB of total storage. This limit was set to help manage the limited storage provided to Berkeley by Google and ensure adequate storage availability for current students, faculty, and staff.

    3. Security Controls: Additional security measures and protections will be necessary to protect Berkeley’s Google Workspace environment. These include stricter policies to protect against spam, phishing attacks, and the requirement to utilize two-factor authentication for access.

We are committed to maintaining ways for you to stay engaged with Berkeley. We’ll continue to evaluate whether this service is an effective way of achieving that goal. Please note that the email service for alumni is provided as a privilege and subject to additional changes.