Frequently Asked Questions
What is Colgate’s Alumni Email Program?
Colgate’s Alumni Email Program (Email for Life) allows Colgate students turned alumni to retain their Colgate email by opting in. Once opted in, the student’s email transitions from @colgate.edu to @alumni.colgate.edu, and this is one of many great ways to maintain a connection to Colgate. Colgate students must understand they will not retain access to their Google Drive, Photos, YouTube, Maps, and other Google services once this transition is complete. Only Gmail and Google Calendar are available to alumni accounts.
Please note: As Colgate complies with Google's changes in University storage limits we are unable to continue to offer full access to emails, including storage, to all alumni. The Alumni Email Program will discontinue after the Class of 2026. The Class of 2027 and onward will not be able to retain their email for life.
How do I keep the data in my Colgate Google account?
Only Gmail and Google Calendar are available for alumni accounts. That means services such as Google Drive, Photos, YouTube, Maps, and more will become unavailable from your Colgate Google account after officially opt-in. You can transfer or download your student data using Google Takeout to a personal Google account if you would like to continue using other Google services.
Google Takeout is a free tool to transfer your Google Drive files and Gmail inbox to a personal Google account. You can also download a copy of all of the data stored in your Google account to a personal device.
Is the alumni email program available to all alumni?
No. Alumni are given the year after graduation, until August 1 of the following year, to opt into the alumni email program. The Alumni Email Program will discontinue after the Class of 2026. The Class of 2027 and onward will not be able to retain their email for life.
Does this mean that all my old emails and contacts will be retained?
Yes, your emails, settings, and contacts will be retained. The account is simply being renamed.
Only Gmail and Google Calendar are available for alumni accounts. That means services such as Google Drive, Photos, YouTube, Maps, and more will become unavailable from your Colgate Google account after officially opt-in. You can transfer or download your student data to a personal Google account if you would like to continue using other Google services.
Can people continue to send/accept/use Google Calendar events? Spelling it out to a non-tech savvy person, what functions will someone with an @alumni.colgate.edu email address have, other than the email itself?
Google maintains a large catalog of services. Unless specifically listed below, you should assume the service is unavailable. The following services will be available:
-Calendar
-Gmail
-Google Takeout
-Google Scholar
Only Gmail and Google Calendar are available for alumni accounts. That means services such as Google Drive, Photos, YouTube, Maps, and more will become unavailable from your Colgate Google account after officially opt-in. You can transfer or download your student data to a personal Google account if you would like to continue using other Google services. Take extra care to migrate content from these services to a personal Google account.
Will I still have access to my Google Drive once this migration is complete?
No, you will no longer have access to Google Drive. As Colgate complies with Google's changes in University storage limits we are unable to continue to offer full access to emails, including storage, to all alumni. You can create a personal Google account to have access to Google Drive. A personal Google account comes with 15GB of free storage. As of 2024, Google also provides personal plans for as low as $20/yr.
What is the process on your side, how long does it take? Do you notify users when and if they have been set up?
The sign-up process for the Alumni Email Program is quick and easy. You will receive access to your alumni email account after the opt in deadline has passed. For example, the Class of 2023 has an opt in deadline of August 1, 2024, your Colgate email will transition to an alumni email shortly after that date. You will receive an email notification from our Information Technology Services (ITS) department with instructions once your account has changed.
Only Gmail and Google Calendar are available for alumni accounts. That means services such as Google Drive, Photos, YouTube, Maps, and more will become unavailable from your Colgate Google account after you officially opt in. You can transfer or download your student data to a personal Google account if you would like to continue using other Google services.
I received an error during the transfer stating that “Transfer Your Content is only available to authorized G Suite for Education Accounts”
All Colgate student Google accounts are authorized to use the “Transfer Your Content” tool. However, you can only initiate a transfer when you are signed into your Colgate Google account. If you are seeing this error, it is likely that you are still signed into your personal Google account. We recommend fully signing out of your personal Google account before starting the transfer process.
Alternatively, you may use a web browser in private browsing mode to complete the transfer process.
How do I configure email forwarding on my Alumni Email Program account?
Find more information about forwarding through Google support: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/10957?hl=en
Is this a forwarding service or a fully functional email account?
The Alumni Email Program provides an email account through Google's Gmail services. You can send and receive emails at your designated email address with your Colgate Alumni email account.
If all future incoming mail will be forwarded, does this then mean that I will not have to amend the email address associated with my accounts (banking, taxes, immigration, Amazon, social media, etc.)? In other words, can I just give out my current email address and confidently assume that everything will automatically reach my @alumni.colgate.edu inbox?
You will be able to continue to use your @colgate.edu email address to sign into third-party accounts but we do suggest updating to your new @alumni.colgate.edu email address. Emails sent to your @colgate.edu will be forwarded to @alumni.colgate.edu. Additionally, you will need to use your @alumni.colgate.edu address to sign in to your alumni Google account after the transition occurs.
We strongly recommend using a personal email address for financial services and other accounts that would be difficult to recover if access to your alumni email was lost or interrupted. For the best experience, you should try to use your alumni email account for sending and receiving email only.
What happens if another person with the same first initial + last name enrolls at Colgate in the future?
Colgate will never reuse usernames or email addresses. A unique username is always generated for each user.
Is this auto-forwarding function forever? Or is there only a window of time in which this will work?
The auto-forwarding is permanent. It is an email alias associated with the account.
How does the change impact access to the Portal and the VPN?
Portal access is available for 1 year after graduation.
Colgate does not provide VPN access to alumni today, even with the service as it currently stands. VPN is provided for current students, faculty, and staff.
As of 2024, Google provides a VPN service bundled with their storage plans for personal Google accounts. More information on those plans can be found here.
How can alums make sure that they, former advisors, and present students working on the research they started to retain access to the data housed on the alum's Google Drive account?
You should change the ownership of any documents or files that may still be in use by the university before access to Google Drive expires. These might be files related to a research project, a club, or another Colgate organization.
We strongly encourage you to download a copy of your data using Google Takeout before it is deleted.
I still have more questions, who can I reach out to?
Please contact us at alumniemailprogram@colgate.edu.
The information provided is subject to change at any time without prior notice.