Note: This FAQ page may be edited from time to time to enhance its completeness or accuracy.
Why does MSU expire email accounts?
MSU provides access to Spartan 365 email and other Microsoft applications to current students, faculty, and staff as part of its Microsoft Service Offering. These services are provided for use while attending or working at MSU.
Once individuals leave MSU, their licenses must be removed. Currently, MSU provides continued email access for individuals who have graduated after June of 2015. It is not recommended, however, to use your MSU account as your primary email account after graduation (or use it for password recovery options of other accounts). The terms of the Microsoft Service Offering are subject to change at any time.
My msu.edu address is a point of pride, status, and identity. How can I stay connected with MSU?
MSU offers several ways to stay up to date on the latest news about the university and its alumni, including the MSU Weekly News email, MSU Alumni Association publications, and a variety of social media accounts. More information can be found at msutoday.msu.edu.
Is there a way to pay a monthly or yearly fee to keep my msu.edu address?
The msu.edu email address is for those that are currently working and attending MSU. Once you leave MSU and are no longer affiliated with the university, you should use an alternate email address or revert to an email address you were using before attending MSU.
Is there a way to grandfather in alumni and start this with new students?
We have given some consideration to a forwarding-only service, as well as to outsourcing the provisioning of service to alums. For a variety of technical and legal reasons, we would have needed to change the MSU alumni email address domain name to something other than “@msu.edu” (e.g., “@alum.msu.edu”). The cost of providing and supporting this service would be substantial.
Could a forwarding option be available?
We strongly considered forwarding; however, spam presents a real problem for forwarding. We know from experience that when spam is forwarded via email, the receiving service blocks MSU’s email servers, adversely affecting our own email service. In addition, the cost of providing and supporting this service would be substantial.
I heard about a “Technology Guarantee” that was supposed to provide services after I graduated. Is the “Technology Guarantee” still in place?
The “Technology Guarantee” was announced by then-President Peter McPherson in 1996. It stated that MSU students would have two post-graduate years of free email access, as well as affordable lifelong “technological access.” The commitment to provide “technological access” was not tied to a particular technology. Rather, the university committed to providing its students and graduates with “knowledge access” – in other words, access to university information and resources through the use of cutting-edge technologies. Today, with the growth of the World Wide Web, an abundance of free email alternatives, and other technological advances, access to information and resources at the university through technological means far exceeds anything envisioned at the time of President McPherson’s announcement in 1996.
Learn more
- How do I move MSU email to another service?
- How do I save or move my OneDrive data?
- More FAQs
Updated August 18, 2022
