emails floating in front of sunset

UC Davis to phase out email and email forwarding services for former students, staff, and other former affiliates.

Due to increasing security risks and costs, The University of California, Davis is retiring email and email forwarding services  for former students, staff, and other former affiliates. Former students will have the option of transitioning to a Former Students email account for 1-3 years based on their prior university affiliation.

Active students, faculty, staff, former and retired faculty, and UC Davis Health are not impacted by this change.

What is Changing?

UC Davis currently provides former students and some former affiliates with a DavisMail (@ucdavis.edu) Google email address and Google Workspace account after they leave the university. Former affiliates also have the option of having their messages automatically forwarded to a personal email account.   

  • UC Davis is phasing out email and email forwarding for former students, staff, and other former affiliates.
  • Departing and former undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to have their @ucdavis.edu email accounts transferred to a @formerstudents.ucdavis.edu if they are enrolled in Duo multifactor authentication, and if applicable, adjust storage to below 20GB. Accounts will remain active for 1-3 years depending on their affiliation with the university.

Key Dates & A Breakdown of Changes

February 15, 2024
Email and Email Forwarding services retired for the majority of former UCD affiliates. 
February 26, 2024
Email and email Forwarding Services Retired for the Majority of former and retired staff members.
March 15, 2024
Deadline for Former Graduate and Undergraduate students to sign up for Duo and, if applicable, get account storage below 20GB limit in order to qualify for @formerstudents.ucdavis.edu email account.
April 15, 2024
@ucdavis.edu email addresses for qualified former graduate and undergraduate students will transition to @formerstudents.ucdavis.edu accounts.
April 25, 2024
Email forwarding services end for former graduate and undergraduate students. Accounts close for former students who do not qualify for former students email service.

Why is it Changing?

  1. Providing email and email forwarding services to former affiliates in perpetuity is not sustainable for UC Davis for several reasons. 
  2. Operating an email service for users no longer affiliated with UC Davis poses serious security and privacy risks. Like many other higher education institutions, UC Davis is responding to an increasing number of cyber threats, often targeted via email.
  3. The cost to maintain these accounts is rising. Google recently introduced a new license and storage model that eliminates free, unlimited storage for Google Workspace for Education. Read more about this Google storage change here.