Following a change in Google policy, Yale’s Internet Technology Services will reduce the amount of storage for existing Google accounts by October 2024.
Ellie Park, Photo Editor
In 2021, Google announced that institutions using Google Workspace for Education would be limited to 100 terabytes of storage, a policy change from the unlimited storage it provided before. The 100 terabytes are pooled cloud storage across all Yale accounts, and they are enough to store 100 million documents or 400,000 hours of video, according to Inside Higher Ed.
In response, Yale Internet Technology Services has instituted a policy change to reduce storage on individual student accounts, which previously had unlimited storage. Accounts created since Aug. 15, 2023, are allotted five gigabytes, and all other accounts will transition to holding five gigabytes of storage by Oct. 1, 2024. Users can purchase more storage at a rate of $144 for one terabyte of storage — equal to about 1,000 gigabytes — through the University.
“These changes will necessitate adjustments to the way Yale students and faculty store their data,” Jeremy Rosenberg, assistant vice president for IT, wrote to the News. “We are in the process of launching a campaign to help people navigate the change and land on the right alternative option where their needs no longer align with Google’s policies.”
Google’s storage is split between Google Drive, Gmail and Google Photos. University recommendations for those who have storage over the limit include reviewing and removing unnecessary data, as well as moving data to other applications like Microsoft OneDrive and Dropbox. Students have access to OneDrive for free and can submit an application for a Dropbox subscription.
Additionally, in July 2025, all Box@Yale accounts — a cloud-based file-sharing and storage service — will phase out and support for the service will end.
Rosenberg also confirmed to the News that first years, whose accounts are newer, have been under the five-gigabyte limit since their accounts were created. He wrote that ITS is currently creating a plan with explicit deadlines and options for students and faculty above the quota.
The News spoke to several students about the change who expressed concern about how the storage limits would affect classes or data-intensive projects.
“I personally don’t use a huge amount of data, but I have a lot of classes where we have to make movies and projects that are big,” Lucas Aurore ’26 told the News. “[This change] would make my classes harder and it would make me have to delete older projects that I’ve done, which I don’t want to do.”
Ashley Sottosanti ’26, who currently uses 12.19 gigabytes of Google storage, also said that the change could affect students’ academics.
She said that she hopes IT will inform students of multiple options and plans for users who use more than five gigabytes.
“I get why [Google] made the decision, but it sucks because students need the storage for classes,” Sottosanti said.
Google did not respond to a request for comment.
All Yale College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences students are automatically given a Google Education account upon matriculation.
