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Harvard University Information Technology will begin enforcing a default storage limit of 25 gigabytes on Google accounts starting this spring, according to a statement released by Faculty of Arts and Sciences administrators last week.
The change comes following Google’s recent announcement that it will stop offering unlimited free storage for higher education accounts.
Later this month, HUIT will begin working with FAS Google account holders who have exceeded the 25 GB limit. While the change will impact affiliates across the University, existing undergraduate accounts will not be affected.
Incoming College freshmen, however, will have a 25 GB limit on their Google Workspace accounts when they begin onboarding in May. Users that exceed the limit can request additional storage from HUIT, but it was not immediately clear whether HUIT will impose limitations on how many users it will grant extra storage.
According to HUIT, a total of 386 graduate students are currently over the limit, with an average usage of 348 GB and a top usage of 23,396 GB.
The statement also recommended that FAS Google Account holders audit their content and permanently delete files to clear space as appropriate.
While current undergraduates will not be impacted by the change, some still expressed concerns about the new limits.
Summer A.L. Tan ’26 expressed concern that the storage limits will create challenges for students’ class work.
“It’s going to be really difficult for people who have to work with media for their classes to be able to engage with their products in the same way,” she said.
“In the past two years, I’ve done probably six midterms or finals that have required significant data storage,” she added.
Eunice S. Chon ’25-’26, who has already used 50 GB of storage on her Harvard College Google account, said she also believed it could impact students’ academics.
“I think it will greatly compromise the collaborative work that happens in higher education institutions,” she said.
Chon said the storage limit will affect work for student organizations in addition to group assignments.
“I’m mainly worried about the collaborative aspect,” she said.
While the University said its various schools are contacting their affiliates directly about the change, several students reported not receiving an email from administrators about the new storage limit.
Max Lu, a student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences expressed unease with the recent development.
“I didn’t hear about this until you reached out to me, and I’m really concerned,” Lu wrote in an email to The Crimson. “If that’s the case with Google, I honestly would like to see if there are alternative solutions.”
“Harvard should definitely help us to have a smooth transition,” he added. “I personally will only be impacted in a more moderate way, but the faculties and labs who have created their workflows based on the Google ecosystem will certainly feel the pain of a quick cutoff.”
—Staff writer Adina R. Lippman can be reached at adina.lippman@thecrimson.com.
—Staff writer Angelina J. Parker can be reached at angelina.parker@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @angelinajparker.
