Almost half of UT students forward their e-mails from their University accounts directly to personal e-mail addresses, said Brad Englert, chief operating officer of UT’s Information Technology Services.
UT is now one of a number of institutions considering moving to a third-party e-mail provider like Google or Microsoft. The move, if made, would allow UT students to retain their University e-mail accounts after graduating.
Almost 25 percent of doctorate-granting institutions are considering discontinuing the practice of giving students a university-based e-mail account, up from 1 percent to 2 percent in 2004, according to a report released last week.
Incoming University students prefer using their personal e-mail accounts because of personal preference and convenience, according to a report conducted by the nonprofit Educause, a primary reason for the possible changes.
The move to a third-party provider would not involve taking away student e-mail accounts, Englert said.
“I think we certainly will continue providing student e-mails with the University address,” he said. “A lot of universities, though, have moved to a third-party provider to run student e-mails, and that’s just something we’ll have to consider looking into in the coming year.”
The e-mail system is run directly through the University. Englert said that using a third-party provider would still allow students to have a mail.utexas.edu domain. The University’s e-mail system allows 100 megabytes of storage and a typical Gmail account provides more than 50 times as much storage space.
“[The University’s e-mail system] would be hard-pressed to try to replicate the amount of space a commercial account gives you,” Englert said.
Texas A&M University is considering making the switch to a third-party provider as well, said Pierce Cantrell, A&M’s associate provost and vice president for information technology. A&M had 76,000 e-mail accounts in 2008.
Englert said the major obstacle of switching to a third-party provider is privacy issues regarding faculty e-mail accounts. According to the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, faculty and staff e-mails regarding students must remain strictly confidential. Third-party providers, therefore, can only operate student accounts.
Having an official UT e-mail account may carry benefits for some students, according to Greta Fenley, a McCombs undergraduate career advisor. Fenley said a student will automatically have an advantage with potential employers once they see “McCombs” in their address.
“It helps students who don’t have a vast array of alum friends,” Fenley said.
Samir Hegde, a business honors freshman, said he maintains both a UT e-mail account and a personal account.
“It’s nice to separate the two because you don’t want to have an e-mail for a class mixed in with something else,” Hegde said. “Also, I feel if I’m using a University e-mail, a professor would be more willing to respond than an e-mail from a personal one.”
