When Google ended free unlimited storage for higher education in 2021, Cornell faced a looming challenge: how to rein in the costs of cloud storage for individual accounts.

At its peak, Cornell’s Google storage footprint had ballooned to 5.4 petabytes. Retaining that amount of space would trigger an annual bill of $760,000—a daunting prospect as the university faced rising operating costs while recovering from pandemic-related fiscal challenges.

The challenge would be managed through a working group, led by Stephen Burke, IT Director for Enterprise Services.

“To avoid the new storage costs, we launched a multi-year effort to reduce data stored in Google email and other services,” said Burke.

100,000 Accounts

An initial analysis revealed over 100,000 individual accounts, most belonging to alumni. Two-thirds of those accounts fit within 5GB, Cornell’s destination limit, but about 33,000 needed to be reduced through cleanup or by moving files to a personal Google account. For each external account, Google provides 15GB of storage space for free, far more than the amount per person allocated to Cornell’s individual accounts.

Cornell’s other storage vendors like Microsoft and Box were also shifting to fee-based models; transferring existing files to a different platform would not solve the university's new financial burden. Todd Maniscalco, IT Assistant Director for Academic and Collaboration Services, recalls the difficulty faced by support staff as they worked to advance the university’s storage reduction process while answering individual questions from frustrated customers.

“Everyone from the front-line staff to service managers empathized with the pain these Cornell community members faced; teams in both CIT and Alumni Affairs and Development (AAD) worked hard to ease this change where possible,” said Maniscalco. "What strikes me most about this project is the sincerity of our team members’ responses. They consistently strove to remain gracious throughout the process."

Multiple Teams and Advances

The initiative required the expertise of CIT email, storage, identity management, and communication teams, plus close cooperation with AAD.

Before Google’s new pricing could take effect in 2021, Cornell and peers negotiated a temporary reprieve for higher education institutions. The agreement with Google through December 31, 2025 postponed Cornell’s annual excess storage fees at a much lower cost and bought time for the massive effort to reduce storage.

Like most big changes, the project faced moments of internal skepticism and customer resistance, but strong partnerships kept the reduction efforts on course.

Communicating with Alumni

David Kuo, AAD Manager of Technology Services, served as the liaison between CIT and AAD Communications for alumni outreach. Alumni accounts represented the largest share of individual storage.

“The decision to reduce Cornell alumni Google storage to 5GB balanced the desire to maintain an email service for alumni, while keeping the new storage costs manageable. Optimally, Cornell would have liked to continue to provide alumni with higher storage levels—but it’s a challenge to sustainably manage the cost of the service over time as we add graduating classes to the now limited storage pool each year,” said Kuo.

Both CIT and AAD websites included details about the Cornell Google account changes. The AAD Communications team crafted and distributed messages to alumni to help them navigate the transition smoothly.

Kuo said, “It was challenging to reach all alumni impacted by the new storage quota. We sent a series of communications via email notifications, alert banners on the accounts, text messages, and standard paper mail. We provided self-service online technical resources on how to use various tools like Google Takeout to reduce storage, and alumni could contact our IT service desk if they required individual assistance.”

The Results

Working together, CIT, AAD, and thousands of Cornell Google account holders helped whittle Cornell’s Google storage down to 1.4 petabytes—a reduction of nearly 4 petabytes. Rather than preparing to pay a substantial annual fee for excess storage beginning January 1, 2026, Cornell is now positioned with cloud storage models that can evolve without sacrificing service or blowing the budget.

“I’m incredibly proud of what the Central IT and Alumni Affairs & Development teams accomplished through unwavering commitment,” said Burke. “Together, they reduced Cornell’s Google storage by nearly 4 petabytes, from a peak of 5.4 petabytes down to just 625 terabytes. This achievement put us well below our storage threshold, avoiding significant, costly penalties while ensuring long-term sustainability. It’s has been truly a collaborative effort across multiple teams and units, and I couldn’t be prouder!”