At MOREnet, we are committed to keeping our members informed about the latest developments that may impact their technology experience. Recently, we received an important update regarding changes to Google Workspace that could affect users. The following is a copy of that information as received from Google.
Dear Google Workspace for Education administrator,
We’re writing to remind you about updates to Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals licenses and how they’re provisioned for Google Workspace for Education accounts. Additionally, we’re introducing new license types free of charge to give you more ways to manage your users.
As part of these changes, we’re also updating the minimum purchase requirements for customers who upgrade to Education Standard and Education Plus.
What this means for your organization
There are three main updates to Google Workspace for Education that will be rolling out in the coming months.
- New licensing model for Education Fundamentals
- Starting as early as March 2025, we will begin transitioning existing Workspace for Education domains to a new licensing model in which all users in a domain will need to be assigned an Education Fundamentals license to retain access to all Google services. We’re giving additional time to prepare for this change until at least May 2025 because of your domain’s Education Standard or Education Plus agreement.
- Upon transition, your domain, apps.more.net, will receive at least 2500 Education Fundamentals licenses to cover your active and suspended users, plus a buffer. This number is based on your January 27, 2025 total user count.
- Existing users’ licences will be automatically assigned, maintaining their access. After the transition, admins will be responsible for managing license assignments.
- The final license count you receive may change if users are added or deleted before the transition.
- New License Types
Starting as early as March 2025, we will roll out new free of chargelicense types that help administrators ensure their users have access to the right level of functionality. Because of your domain’s Education Standard or Education Plus agreement, the following new license types will be available as early as May 2025:
- Gmail Only User: This license allows users who don’t need access to all of the tools in Google Workspace for Education to keep access to Gmail.
- Archived User: This license ensures that user data is retained (based on your Vault retention rules) and protected by the same industry-leading security as users with an Education Fundamentals license. However, it does not allow the user to sign in to their Google account on any system, including Google Workspace services.
Assigning a Gmail Only User to or archiving a user automatically unassigns their Education Fundamentals license, freeing it up for another user in your domain. To learn more about these license types visit our Help Center.
- Updated Minimum Purchase Requirement
Education Standard and Education Plus subscriptions are intended to cover all students and staff in a domain, and we’ve updated our minimum purchase requirements to ensure our policies reflect this. To learn more about when these changes became effective, visit our Help Center.
What you need to do
- All existing users in your domain will automatically be assigned an Education Fundamentals license, and their ability to interact with Google services will not change.
- Once your domain has transitioned to the new licensing model, you’ll see a minor naming change from “Google Apps for Education – Fundamentals” to “Google Apps for Education Fundamentals” on the subscriptions page in your Admin console. In the days following the transition, you’ll also see the availability of “Google Workspace for Education Gmail Only User” and you will have the ability to archive a user or multiple users from the users page in the Admin console.
- Education Fundamentals licenses are for active faculty, staff, and currently enrolled students. Alumni or non-active users should use Gmail Only and Archive User instead. When new license types become available, consider archiving suspended accounts to free up automatically assigned Education Fundamentals licenses for future users.
- We recommend reviewing your license management practices to prepare for this change. See our Licensing Guide and Help Center for more information.
We’re here to help
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact Google Workspace support, using the reference issue number 379214565.
Thanks for choosing Google Workspace for Education.