Bulletin from Educause

Dear .EDU Domain Name Contact:

For over a decade, EDUCAUSE has charged a $40 annual registration fee to defray the cost of administering the .EDU domain, consistent with its authority as granted by the U.S. Department of Commerce. As EDUCAUSE has worked to modernize and improve the domain registration system and registrant services, including modernizing the platform with greater account management and domain protection options, enhanced privacy settings for whois data, increasing security and adding multi-factor authentication, the costs associated with administering the domain, and the extent to which the registration fee had not covered them for some time, became readily apparent.

The cooperative agreement under which EDUCAUSE administers the domain allows for charging a registration fee, with appropriate federal approval, based on the cost of administering it. After carefully assessing the disconnect between the registration fee and the cost of administering the domain and meeting registrant needs, EDUCAUSE sought and received approval to increase the registration fee to $77 per year, and to adjust it annually for inflation moving forward. The new fee level will be applied to renewals of existing .EDU domain name registrations starting in 2019. It takes effect immediately for completely new .EDU registrations.

EDUCAUSE recognizes that the transition to the new registration fee of $77 per year represents a noticeable change in the fee level. Bringing the fee in line with .EDU costs, and maintaining its alignment with those costs moving forward, is necessary, however. It will allow EDUCAUSE to continue delivering systems and services that support .EDU registrants at the industry standard for security, reliability, and functionality, both now and in the future.

If you have questions or need assistance in determining when the new fee level will apply to your registration, please contact EDUCAUSE at [email protected] or by phone at: (303) 449-4805. Staff members are available Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Mountain Time, to provide further information and address your concerns.

Thank you for your participation in the .EDU domain,

John O’Brien
President and CEO, EDUCAUSE