Alumni Account FAQs

Alumni may keep their college-issued email addresses provided they submit a SUNY Oswego account renewal form sent out by the Alumni Office each year, the first in mid-November, followed by two in December, with a submission deadline of December 31 each calendar year. You must submit the renewal form to avoid account suspension or data loss/deletion. Below are resources for Alumni accounts. For other account questions, you can find more information at Account FAQs.

Account Reactivation

Alumni who did not respond to the survey from the Alumni Office may reactivate their SUNY Oswego email account. Accounts that have not been reactivated by June 1st of the next year will be deleted. All associated data in the account will be deleted and unrecoverable including LakerApps data (Gmail, Calendar, Drive).

• If your account was suspended between January and June of the next year, you may use our Alumni Account Reactivation Tool. A temporary password will be given which will allow you to log in, change the password, and set a security question.
• After June 1st the email address can be reactivated by contacting the Alumni Office, however, previous data will not be recoverable.

Storage Quotas

Due to Google's policy change on unlimited storage, SUNY Oswego imposed a 15GB storage quota on all alumni accounts. 

Google changed its offering to promote a fair distribution of storage resources across institutions. Likewise, while SUNY Oswego’s current domain usage is under our allocated amount, we need to plan for future growth and ensure space is used equitably. 
 

Therefore, effective Feb. 17, 2025, this quota will apply to Gmail only. Google Drive, Photos, and Sites service will no longer be available. We kindly ask alumni to remove files stored in Google Drive, Photos, and/or Sites by Feb. 17.  
 

What do I need to do?

To prepare for the change, you can do the following:

1. Remove all files and web pages in Drive, Photos, and Sites:
   1. Delete files no longer needed 
   2. Move remaining files to an alternative storage solution using the following options:
      1. Transfer your files to a personal Gmail account (gmail.com)
      2. Download the files to your computer or external storage 
         1. In Google Drive, click on "My Drive"
         2. Type ctrl-a which will select all the files and folders listed
         3. Click the three vertical dots above the listing of files and choose "Download"
   3. Delete the remaining files from Drive, Photos, and Sites once successfully transferred
   4. Empty your trash as Google retains files in the trash for another 30 days which counts against your quota.
2. Verify your storage is under 15GB which should now be solely for Gmail

What happens if I don't get my files deleted or moved by the deadline?

If your account is over quota after the deadline, your entire SUNY Oswego account will end up being deleted by the system. All data (email and files) will be deleted and unrecoverable.

If you are under quota, but still have files in Drive and Photos, those files will end up being deleted and will be unrecoverable. Gmail service only will continue to be available. 
 

My Gmail is still over the 15 GB quota. What do I do?

You can review step 3 of Google's "Free up storage space" document to determine which emails are taking up the most space.  Make sure to also empty your Gmail trash as emails in trash count against your quota.

Where can I get more information?

The following resources are available for more information:

• Google Storage Limits Policy

Need additional information or assistance? Contact CTS.