[rr808]

I can't think why I'd want to keep an email account from my old university. Is that really a thing?

[Petersipoi]

Oh yes. EDU emails are a hot commodity. And there have been a lot of crack downs lately on who can have them. The number of free and heavily discounted items you can get with them makes them quite valuable.

[basch]

not all alumni email addresses are .edu.

which actually turns out to be a win, because because they arent tied to the university itself, they can impose a 5gb cap, stop accepting new alumni, and carry on. and a .com is often easier to say over the phone than subdomain.school.edu

[declan_roberts]

I still sometimes have to use mine to provide I attended college!

[munchler]

Having a .edu email can be very useful for getting access to academic information. Heck, I even used my alumni email to create a Facebook account way back when it was for universities only.

[spiritplumber]

An .edu email address can be useful for several things. Testing software, getting academic subscriptions.

[bangaladore]

Many .edu discount services do not work just because an email as .edu in it. They scan databases for active students.

Source-- I still have a valid EDU email and graduated in 2023.

[throw7]

Back in my day, RPI used to have alum shell accounts, but they quickly got rid of those and then quickly moved to just forwarding the alum email address somewhere else. I have no idea what they do now, but the feeling is mutual at this point.