Eligibility for a UMBS E-mail Account
UMBS UT E-mail (mail.utexas.edu) provides an e-mail address on the mail.utexas.edu domain for all active UT Austin students, faculty, staff and retirees. In most instances, your UMBS e-mail remains active for as long as you are affiliated with the university and for 180 days following your departure.
When you are no longer an active student, faculty or staff member, or retiree, you are no longer eligible for a mail.utexas.edu mailbox. This means that 180 days after departing the university, your UMBS e-mail will be deactivated and you will no longer be able to send, receive or access messages from this mailbox.
What To Do if You Believe You are Still Eligible for a mail.utexas.edu Mailbox
If you received an automatic e-mail notification that your UMBS e-mail service will be deactivated, and you feel this is an error, please check to see if you fall into one of these categories:
- You are are either an active student, faculty or staff member, or a retiree.
- You will enroll as a student or be appointed as an employee before the deactivation date.
- You have a close, ongoing relationship with the university even though you are not an active student, faculty or staff member.
- You are on forced temporary leave from the university, but will be returning.
If you DO NOT fall into one of these categories then you may not be eligible to keep your UMBS e-mail. Please refer to You May NOT Keep Your UMBS E-mail if. . . for more information.
You are still an active student, faculty or staff member, or a retiree.
If you are affiliated with the university and believe you received a deactivation notice in error, contact the ITS Help Desk. You will be able to keep your mailbox if you are:
- A student (distance education and extension students do not qualify);
- A future student, enrolled for the next upcoming semester;
- An employee (faculty or staff);
- A future employee, with an appointment scheduled to begin at the start of the next upcoming semester;
- A benefits-eligible retiree.
Other exceptions may be made depending on individual circumstances.
You will enroll as a student or be appointed as an employee before the deactivation date.
If you enroll as a student or are appointed as an employee, before the deactivation date for your mailbox, you will receive an e-mail confirming that your mail.utexas.edu mailbox will not be deactivated. Your mailbox will continue to operate without interruption, and you do not need to take any action.
IMPORTANT: If you continue to receive deactivation notices after you have been enrolled or appointed, contact the ITS Help Desk for assistance immediately.
You have a close, ongoing relationship with the university, even though you are not an active student, faculty or staff member.
You may qualify for UMBS UT e-mail through a close, ongoing relationship with the university, even though you do not meet the active UT Austin student, faculty, staff or retiree requirement. People who work for organizations hosted on campus and are in close cooperation with a university department are an example of how this criteria may apply. In some instances, we will need to verify your relationship with the university if you are to qualify for UMBS e-mail under this criteria.
Post-doctoral fellows may also qualify for UMBS e-mail depending on their individual situations. A post-doctoral fellow typically retains eligibility if the sponsoring department provides a zero-time, zero-dollar appointment. If this is not possible, an exception may be granted.
If you believe you qualify for UMBS e-mail based on these criteria, please contact the ITS Help Desk.
You are on forced temporary leave from the university, but will be returning.
Certain circumstances may force you to leave the university for a period of time, temporarily changing your affiliation status even though you plan to return. Medical leave and military leave are two good examples of this qualifying exception.
If you believe you qualify for UMBS e-mail based on these criteria, please contact the ITS Help Desk.
You May NOT Keep Your UMBS E-mail if. . .
In most situations, your mail.utexas.edu mailbox will be deactivated when you are no longer affiliated with the university. We often have requests from mailbox owners who want to keep their mail.utexas.edu mailbox once they leave the university, but UMBS e-mail is only for students, faculty and staff, and retirees.
If you are in situation similar to the examples below, please be aware that you are no longer eligible to keep your mail.utexas.edu mailbox:
"I've been using the mailbox for a long time and it's how everyone knows me. I get very important e-mail here."
Your UMBS e-mail remains active for 180 days following your departure from the university. This 180 day grace period allows you to:
- Establish a new e-mail address at your new job, school or Internet service provider.
- Notify everyone of your new address.
- Automatically forward your e-mail from mail.utexas.edu to your new e-mail address.
"Our employee used his mailbox for departmental purposes rather than personal use. Now that he is gone, we need this mailbox for our department."
UMBS e-mail is strictly for personal use. UMBS e-mail does not provide for departmentally owned mailboxes. Austin Exchange
Messaging Service is recommended for
departmental mailboxes.
Be sure that your staff members understand that using UMBS e-mail for departmental purposes can have significant consequences since that mailbox will be deactivated when they leave.
"I'm an extension student or a Distance Education Center student."
If you are an extension student or a student of the Distance Education Center, you are not eligible for UMBS e-mail because you do not qualify as an enrolled student who pays the university tuition and student fees.
If you still have questions regarding the deactivation of your UMBS e-mail, please contact the ITS Help Desk.
