Microsoft and Google are moving away from free and low-cost online storage offerings, significantly altering storage models for higher education institutions like UC Riverside.
As a result, UCR must make changes to its Microsoft and Google services to ensure the University’s storage needs continue to be met in a fiscally responsible way.
Overview of Service Changes
Microsoft
Microsoft recently announced an end to its long-standing policy of offering abundant, low-cost storage, significantly changing its licensing model for higher education. This change includes a considerable increase in the cost of storage on their Microsoft Office 365 (O365) platform.
In response to this news, service decisions around O365, including storage limits for campus users, are currently being determined and will be announced to the campus as soon as possible.
UCR has been preparing for Google storage changes since Google announced a change to its storage model for higher education institutions. However, Microsoft’s recent announcement has made it necessary to change course on components of the initial service decision on Google Workspace, as well as to announce future changes to O365 services. Change details will continue to be communicated to campus as more information becomes available.
Google will begin enforcing a storage volume-based subscription model at UC Riverside on June 15, 2024.
Note: Google is making this change broadly across all higher education institutions, however, this change does not affect UCR's recent partnership with Google to advance enterprise infrastructure and research computing (Google Cloud Platform, or GCP) services at UCR.
Personal Drive Storage
| Group | Anticipated User Experience | Notes/Other Potential Impacts |
|---|---|---|
| All Users |
Highlanders are encouraged to review the new storage quotas for Google Workspace. Storage quotas for Microsoft O365 are still being determined and will be announced as soon as they are available. ITS is working diligently to ensure that any set storage quotas are consistent with the current usage of the vast majority of campus users. As a result, it is anticipated that most members of our campus community will not be directly affected by these upcoming storage changes. |
|
| Faculty and Academic Affiliates |
Academic personnel will retain access to Google Workspace storage services (R’Mail, Drive, Photos, etc.); however, they will need to adhere to the new Google Workspace storage quota of 100 GB by June 15, 2024. Please note that this change to Google Workspace does not affect Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services. Any academic personnel currently utilizing Microsoft O365 storage services (Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, etc.) should be advised that changes to O365 services are forthcoming, and action may be required to reduce storage to meet new storage quotas. While O365 users will retain access to SharePoint and OneDrive, they are encouraged to consider Google Workspace as their primary storage solution. Departments will be able to purchase additional storage if required (more details to follow). Research computing storage options are available to researchers and individuals with grant funds. |
Faculty and researchers should note that if their research and teaching data exceed the quota, ITS will reach out and work with them directly to identify options and ensure their storage needs are met. These new storage quotas also affect alumni, and alumni account cleanup is currently underway. If an alumnus shared files with you, it is crucial to take steps now to save any data you wish to keep. We highly recommend that you locate and make copies of files shared with you. Please watch for an email from ITS with additional guidance and support. |
| Students |
Students will retain access to Google Workspace storage services (R’Mail, Drive, Photos, etc.). However, undergraduate students will need to adhere to the new Google Workspace storage quota of 25 GB by June 15, 2024, while graduate students will need to adhere to the new Google Workspace storage quota of 100 GB by June 15, 2024. Any students currently utilizing Microsoft O365 storage services (Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, etc.) should be advised that changes to O365 services are forthcoming, and action may be required to reduce storage to meet new storage quotas. Students are strongly encouraged to use Google Workspace for storage. |
Students should take note of new storage limitations for alumni so they can prepare accordingly. |
| Staff and Non-Academic Affiliates |
Staff will retain access to Google Workspace storage services (R’Mail, Drive, Photos, etc.); however, they will need to adhere to the new Google Workspace storage quota of 100 GB by June 15, 2024. As Microsoft O365 is currently the primary storage service for staff, staff should be advised that changes to O365 services (Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, etc.) are forthcoming, and action may be required to reduce storage to meet new storage quotas. While O365 users will retain access to SharePoint and OneDrive, they are encouraged to consider Google Workspace as their primary storage solution. |
These new storage quotas also affect alumni, and alumni account cleanup is currently underway. If an alumnus shared files with you, it is crucial to take steps now to save any data you wish to keep. We highly recommend that you locate and make copies of files shared with you. Please watch for an email from ITS with additional guidance and support. In response to Microsoft’s recent change to its licensing model for higher education, UCR is currently working to determine what changes to O365 services must be made in order to comply while meeting our University’s business needs and fiscal responsibilities. Decisions, any resulting user impact, and next steps will be communicated as soon as possible. |
| Alumni |
Alumni will retain limited access to Google Workspace storage services (R’Mail, Drive, Photos, etc.). They must adhere to the new alumni Google Workspace storage quota of 10 GB by September 3, 2024 or risk having their over-quota account reset on September 20, 2024, which will irrevocably delete all data. Alumni are strongly encouraged to enable email forwarding. To prepare for this change, alumni should take the following steps:
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Any alumni who utilized Microsoft O365 storage services (Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, etc.) should expect to lose access to these services, as support does not fall under the new licensing agreement. |
| Retirees and Emeriti |
Retirees and Emeriti will retain access to Google Workspace storage services (R’Mail, Drive, Photos, etc.); however, they will need to adhere to the new Google Workspace storage quota of 100 GB by June 15, 2024. Any Retirees and Emeriti currently utilizing Microsoft O365 storage services (Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, etc.) should be advised that changes to O365 services are forthcoming, and action may be required to reduce storage to meet new storage quotas. |
Shared Drive Storage
| Group | Anticipated User Experience | Notes/ Other Potential Impacts |
|---|---|---|
All Users |
Shared Drives do not count toward personal storage quota, however, they do count toward UCR’s total storage quota and, therefore, are subject to restrictions. Not all individuals associated with the university are eligible to create Shared Drives. To ensure university data continuity, Shared Drives should be owned and managed by active UCR employees to avoid data loss. If you are not familiar with drives, this 30-second video explains the difference between My Drive and Shared Drives in Google Workspace. You may also want to reference this Shared Drives cheat sheet and additional guidance. |
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| Faculty and Academic Affiliates | New Shared Drives created by faculty and academic affiliates default to 1 TB of storage per drive. If additional storage is needed, faculty and academic affiliates may submit a request for expanded storage. | UCR’s Shared Drive terms of use have changed: student permissions no longer include the ability to create Shared Drives. Faculty and academic affiliates may invite students to Shared Drives as contributors to support research and administrative activities. To ensure university data continuity, Shared Drives should be owned and managed by active UCR employees to avoid data loss. |
| Students | Students will retain access to Google Workspace storage services (R’Mail, Drive, Photos, etc.) with the exception of Shared Drive creation. Students may be invited by faculty and staff to Shared Drives as contributors to support research and administrative activities. | Existing Shared Drives that were created by active UCR students are grandfathered into this change and, as such, the data within them should not be affected. |
| Staff and Non-Academic Affiliates |
New Shared Drives created by staff and non-academic affiliates default to 5 GB of storage per drive. If additional storage is needed, staff and non-academic affiliates may submit a request for expanded storage. Note: Student employees are eligible for 100 GB of additional email storage outside of their allocated student storage. This additional storage does not include Google Drive. However, supervisors may create a new shared drive for their student employees to store university-owned work, which will be subject to the Google Workspace Shared Drive Terms of Use. |
UCR’s Shared Drive terms of use have changed: student permissions no longer include the ability to create Shared Drives. Staff and affiliates may invite students to Shared Drives as contributors to support administrative and student org activities. To ensure university data continuity, Shared Drives should be owned and managed by active UCR employees to avoid data loss. |
| Alumni | Alumni are not eligible for campus storage beyond their personal Workspace storage quota. | Ownership of a Shared Drive should be transferred to an active employee to avoid any data loss. |
| Retirees and Emeriti | Retirees and emeriti are not eligible for campus storage beyond their personal Workspace storage quota. | Ownership of a Shared Drive should be transferred to an active employee to avoid any data loss. |
What Can I Do Now to Prepare?
As noted above, you will receive a separate email if you are over or near the new Google storage limit or affected by future changes to O365 services. However, if you would like to take steps now to review and reduce your Google storage, you are encouraged to do the following:
- Check your current storage usage in Google. Google provides an overview of your current storage usage in Google Drive, Mail, and Photos and a list of the largest files in your Drive. Note that the storage quota is only applied to Google Workspace and does not affect Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services for research.
- Export data from your account. Use Google Takeout to export your data from your UCR Google account to another non-university storage solution or personal account.
- Keep an eye out for additional information. If you are currently exceeding or close to exceeding the new storage limit, you will soon receive direct communication with guidance and support.
Support
Support is available to assist the Highlander community during this transition. Available guides and how-to articles can be found in the UCR ITS Knowledge Base. Additional resources will be added as they become available.
Faculty and researchers should note that if their research and teaching data exceed the quota, ITS will reach out and work with them directly to identify options and ensure their storage needs are met.
ITS will continue to keep our campus informed of updates and next steps related to these Microsoft and Google license changes via Tech Town Halls, Inside UCR, and direct email communication to campus users where possible.
Students and employees also have free access to training videos for Microsoft and Google through UCR's LinkedIn Learning library.
Note: This article was updated on October 24, 2024.
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