Frequently Asked Questions - Alumni Email Service

Berkeley currently allows alumni to renew the active @berkeley.edu Google account they had as a former student, employee, or participant in a prior Alumni Email Service.  These accounts will be limited in July 2024 to only allow 5 GB of total storage (including all Gmail, Drive & Photos). More information about the limitations to the @berkeley.edu Google accounts provided to alumni can be found at Alumni Email Changes.

No. Campus is committed to maintaining ways for alumni to stay engaged with Berkeley. We will continue to evaluate whether this service is an effective way of achieving that goal. The Alumni Email Service is provided as a privilege and is subject to additional changes.

No. Email services for alumni are currently funded by UC Berkeley as a privilege and limited benefit to alumni. There are no charges to alumni for using the alumni email service. All UC Berkeley Google accounts provided to alumni will be limited to 5 GB of total storage.

Alumni can not purchase additional storage or use storage purchased directly from Google with their UC Berkeley Google accounts.

1. Alumni who have an active berkeley.edu email account and an active CalNet ID and passphrase; and/or

2. Recent graduates (whose grace period ended after September 2023) who are alumni or attendees of full-time UC Berkeley undergraduate or graduate degree programs with more than 12 completed course hours.

1. Enter the email address provided in the To: field of this message to login to Google
2. Enter your CalNet ID and Passphrase when presented with the CalNet Authentication Service page.
   1. The part before the @ symbol in the To: field of this message is your CalNet ID
   2. You can Reset Passphrase(link is external) if you can no longer remember it.
3. Check the Email(link is external) section of your Google profile to see all of your alternate email addresses.

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

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

No. Only alumni with existing, active @berkeley.edu Google accounts are eligible to renew their service.

No. Only alumni with an active CalNet ID and passphrase can renew an @berkeley.edu Google account.

Many alumni value continued access to their berkeley.edu email address as a way to identify themselves as Berkeley graduates. Communicating between alumni and using it for job searches are two common ways alumni use their accounts.

Things to avoid:

1. Sending unsolicited email (SPAM) - even in relatively small numbers, sending SPAM can get your account blocked by Google.  If your account is blocked, your account will be reviewed for abuse and can be subject to restrictions or revocation.

2. Using as a login to other services - Signing up for and using your @berkeley.edu address for other consumer services should be avoided.  These include, but are not limited to, personal banking/financial accounts and personal subscriptions like Amazon or Netflix.

Please refer to the Alumni Email Service Level Agreement for the exhaustive list of alumni responsibilities including adherence to policies and prohibited conduct

Yes.  If you already have CalNet 2-Step verification using DUO, you will be required to continue using it.  Alumni who don’t yet have CalNet 2-Step will be contacted in late summer 2024 or early Fall 2024 with instructions on how to set up CalNet 2-Step.

Please review Leaving UC Berkeley to take the necessary steps to ensure you have retained any personal information you require and that you have properly transferred any data to others as appropriate.  If you take no action, your account will be disabled and eventually deleted.