Account and IT Services after Graduation

What happens and when. 

Your Google account will be accessible and active for one year after graduation. At the end of one year, your account will be closed.

Exporting and Backing Up Your Google Data 

You should export and back up any data from Google Drive, as well as forward any important emails that you wish to retain. It's easiest to use Google's tools to export your data. Remember that a Google account provides many services, including Google Keep, Photos, Maps, and YouTube, among others. Review data from those services and export/save the data you want to keep. You can move this data to a new Google account or other services such as Dropbox or OneDrive.

Additionally, 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.

FAQs

Q: What access will I lose after the 12 month period?
A: All access to your Google account will be lost. This includes email, Google Drive, calendar, Youtube and the entire suite of Google products.

Q: What happens if someone emails me after my email account has been closed?
A: The sender of the email will receive a bounce or bounce-back message that will state the address cannot be found.

Q: Can I keep my email account?
A: The class of 2026 can opt in to the alumni email program. This allows you to retain all the contents of your inbox; however, Google Drive and any other data associated with your account must be exported before the one-year deadline.

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.

Q: Can I keep the same email address?
A: Your email address will change slightly to an @alumni.colgate.edu account, but any email sent to your @colgate.edu account will be delivered to your new @alumni.colgate.edu email inbox. You will not need to ask senders to update your contact information.

Q: Should I update the email address on my accounts (banking, taxes, immigration, Amazon, social media, paid subscriptions, etc.)?
A: You will be able to continue using your @colgate.edu email address to sign into third-party accounts, but we 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 were lost or interrupted. For the best experience, you should use your alumni email account for sending and receiving email only.

Q: What if I become an employee of the University?
A: If you become an employee of the University, you will be provided with options, including the option to retrieve data from your student Drive folder before losing access, as well as retaining access to both your student email inbox along with a new Colgate email inbox.

What happens and when. 

Access to the portal will be accessible and active for one year after graduation. At the end of one year, your account login will no longer work to access the portal.

What you can do now. 

Accessing the portal for one year after graduation allows you to access and view your grades, student account information, as well as access other services.  Plan on reaching out directly to university offices such as Student Accounts or the Registrar for any inquiries or requests you may have going forward.

You will notice within the one-year period after graduation that tabs within the portal will begin to disappear.  This is normal.

FAQs

Q: What if I need to make a payment to the Office of Student Accounts?
A: You can still log into the portal to make payments for up to one year.  After that period, you should direct any inquiries to the Office of Student Accounts.

Q: What if I need a copy of my transcript a year or more after I graduate?
A: Please visit the registrar's office's webpage to find the instructions on requesting your transcript from the University.

Q: The portal login screen looks similar to other service logins, will those services stop as well?
A: Yes. The portal uses our Single Sign On (SSO) service. Your SSO account will be closed one year after graduation.  Services like Zoom, Adobe Creative Cloud, online library resources and any other service that used your network/SSO account to log in will be closed.

Q: What should I do to prepare for this change?
A: It is important to plan ahead and ensure that you have exported any content saved to the cloud from the many services offered at Colgate.  This includes Adobe's Creative Cloud and Microsoft storage through Office 365 and One Drive. If applicable, you may also want to transition other services like NY Times subscription and Zoom accounts to a personal account.

What happens and when. 

Your access to both Adobe's Creative Cloud apps and stored files will accesssible and be active for at least two months after graduation. After the two month period, your Adobe Creative Cloud account will eventually be closed and any files stored in Adobes' cloud storage will be lost.

What you can do now to retain access to files stored in Adobes' cloud storage. 

You can migrate your creative content to a new, personal Adobe account. Adobe will offer you a free 30-day trial, but also offers discounts to recent graduates. Follow the process below:

1. Create a new free account and migrate your Colgate Creative Cloud data to this new account. To start this process, visit graduation.adobe.com. There may be some limitations on app usage, but your data will be transferred.
2. Subscribe to Adobe and convert your free account (created in step 1) to a paid subscription. Recent graduates are eligible to receive a discount from Adobe.

FAQs

Q:  I have some Adobe cloud content that I would like to give ownership to someone else.  Can I do this?
A: You can share the content and ask them to create their own copy, or you can download the content and share with someone else.

What happens and when. 

Access to Microsoft's Office 365, which includes web collaboration through Office apps such as Word and Excel; any apps you may have downloaded to your laptop or tablet; and OneDrive cloud storage will be active until June 1 of your graduation year. After June 1, Microsoft access will eventually be closed and any files stored in OneDrive cloud storage will be lost. 

What you can do now.

You download your files saved in OneDrive to your computer. You can select the files you want to keep and download them to your computer, or you can sync all files using the OneDrive app for Windows.

FAQs

Q:  Can I continue to use Microsoft's Office 365 products?
A:  You can transition to a paid account should you wish to continue using these services.

Q:  What happens to files I have saved on my computer like Word or Excel documents.  Will they still work even after my Office 365 account stops is closed?
A:  Those files will remain on your computer, and can be accessed or edited with the Microsoft Office suite of products.  You may need to move them to another computer that has an active subscription to Microsoft in order to view or edit the files.  

The following services will be available for a limited time after graduation. 

Expect this service to end shortly after commencement:

• VPN
• SpectrumU streaming service

Expect these services to end approximately one year after commencement:

• Webprint and Public Printing Access
• Public Lab Computer Logins
• Access to the eduroam wireless network

FAQs

Q: Who can I reach out to for help?
A: You can contact the IT Service Desk for further assistance.

Q: Is there an exact date that these services will end?
A: Many of our services are linked to complex systems and the exact date varies each year.  It's best practice to begin preparing for alternatives as soon as possible to prevent an interruption of any service you are using.