Alumni email service: frequently asked questions

• Your alumni email account provides an email-only account based on Gmail with 2GB of storage. No other services or apps are available (e.g., calendar, Meet, Chat).
• When do I lose access to my ncsu.edu email address?
  • You will retain access to your unityid @ ncsu.edu account for six months after graduation. After that time your account will be disabled and files deleted. You will receive email reminders to your unityid @ ncsu.edu address; these reminders will include a date when your account will be disabled.
  • Current active employees or students that re-enroll in school will not lose access to their account after six months.
• How do I get copies of my student data?
  • Students should plan on downloading files they wish to keep. Use the Drive interface to locate and download important files or use Google Takeout (takeout.google.com) to create an export of various file types from Google (Gmail, Contacts, photo albums in Google Photos, etc). 
  • If you are a current employee, your account is not impacted. In the case that you need to migrate content, be sure that you only select student data and not work related data.
• Should I transfer my current student email to my alumni email-only account?
  • No, your alumni account has only 2GB of storage.
• What if I get more email to my alumni account than I have room for?
  • If you are over your 2GB quota, outbound email (email you send) will fail to deliver. If you go over 4GB, both outbound and inbound (email you receive) will fail. 
  • Check your storage usage by going to https://drive.google.com/settings/storage. To reduce storage, see Search operators you can use with Gmail to filter and search for emails that are no longer needed (e.g., that may have attachments or older emails before ‘x’ date). It’s a good idea to delete emails when no longer needed or they have been forwarded to a personal account. 
  • Consider setting email forwarding from your alumni account to another preferred email account. 
    • You can “send-as” your alumni address from your preferred email.
• I made a YouTube channel with my NC State Google account. Can I keep that, what are my options?
  • Your must transfer it to a personal account. Your YouTube content will go away when your student account is deactivated. It is your responsibility to transfer any content.
• I’ve connected my NC State Google account to other online services, what should I do?
  • It is extremely important that you immediately review services that you’ve tied to your NC State email account and update your profile or account information to one with your new, preferred email address.
  • Below are a sampling of services students might tie to their student account. Be sure to set aside some time to review all of these:
    • Subscription services (online streaming, etc)
    • Instagram
    • Snapchat
    • TikTok
    • AppleID
    • Facebook
    • Personal bank account(s)
    • Mailing services
• I’ve published under my name using my NC State Google account. What options do I have for people to find me after my student account is disabled?
  • Update your publications and link to your new, preferred email address.
  • Google Scholars, researchgate.com and other research tracking services allow you to set up your own account and claim papers written by yourself if your email address has changed – such as losing access to your ncsu.edu email account.
• What if I come back to school as a student or employee again?
  • If you return to NC State in a student or employee role, your alumni account will continue to function and will remain separate from your NC State Google account.
• I’ve changed my name and now my Alumni account doesn’t reflect my new name. How can I get it changed?
  • OIT is unable to change your unityid, but as a user,  you can change your display name to reflect your preferred name.
• Why are pre-May 2010 graduates undecided at this point
  • When NC State went with Google as a service in 2010, we provisioned accounts for all incoming students. Unfortunately for pre-May 2010 graduates, we are not able to provision accounts.
  • Alumni who graduated prior to May 2010 can complete this form which will be shared with the NC State Alumni Association and they will notify you if or when this option becomes available.

Return to Alumni Email service page.