THE UNIVERSITY will impose a storage limit on Microsoft 365 accounts starting Oct. 1 after the tech company announced it would no longer provide unlimited free cloud storage, the Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) said.
The Microsoft OneDrive storage limit of administrators and academic staff will be capped at 30 gigabytes (GB), while the limit for students and support staff will be set at 20 GB, said Asst. Prof. Jerralyn Padua, assistant to the rector for information and communications technology, in a memorandum dated Aug. 29.
The cuts are drastic as for students, the OneDrive storage allowance went as high as 1 terabyte, which can hold 250,000 photos, 500 hours of HD video, or 1,000 hours of music.
Many users had switched to OneDrive after UST imposed a 20-GB limit on Google storage tied to students’ email accounts in 2023.
The new policy will be “strictly enforced” as UST’s OneDrive utilization had exceeded the maximum by more than 50%, the OICT memo stated.
“In August 2023, Microsoft announced it would no longer offer unlimited free cloud storage. This decision was influenced by the financial unsustainability of such accounts, along with data security risks and the environmental impact of cloud storage,” it said.
According to the memorandum, user accounts with a last access date in Academic Year 2021-2022 or earlier will be deleted by the Educational Technology Center on Aug 19. to Sept. 6.
This will render the old Microsoft accounts in read-only mode, which allows users to view and download existing files but prevent them from uploading new files and saving changes to existing documents.
From Sept. 8 until Sept. 30, Thomasians should delete unnecessary files and documents as well as unsync photos and media from mobile devices to prevent them from automatically uploading to their cloud storage.
During this time, users are allowed to save changes to existing files, create new files and folders, and transfer new data to the drive.
‘Shocked’
Some students, particularly those who use the cloud service to store their academic outputs and organization work, were shocked at the announcement.
Psychology junior Alexandhria Lopez said her OneDrive storage space went from half-full to full overnight.
“I felt disappointed… I had to delete a lot of pictures, and I had to turn off my auto-backup feature. Nakakagulat lang na dati I didn’t need to supervise my storage much pero now ang laking hassle niya na,” she said.
Accountancy junior Deanne Lopez said that while she had tried using Google Drive, she preferred OneDrive because of what used to be a bigger storage limit.
“As an org person with so many files, hindi na kasya sa Google Drive ko lahat. So, I transferred to OneDrive knowing na may 1 (terabyte) kami doon before. And now na ginawa nilang 20 GB na lang, I feel so disappointed,” she stated.
Johanna Ramoy, a fifth year architecture student, also had a similar experience with the limited storage space of Google Drive.
“I switched to OneDrive when Google Drive got a 20-GB limit and learning that OneDrive has a limit of 1 terabyte, I used it for my past modules and files,” she said.
Both are worried that they would not have enough cloud storage for their remaining years in UST.
“Meron pa akong two years as a third year student and hindi ko alam kung paano [ko mapagkakasya] ‘yung files without having to delete some na important din,” Lopez said.
Ramoy said, “Learning that it’s only 20 GB in my last year of college seems so devastating on my end.”
Contract renewal in March
OICT recommended users to review and adjust their sync settings, especially when connected with mobile devices, as photos and videos can consume a significant portion of the allocated storage.
It also advised academic and administrative units to assess their storage requirements in conjunction with the existing storage available through the Google Workspace application.
Thomasians who encounter problems in the transition to the new Microsoft 365 storage policy are advised to reach out to the OICT’s support team through the MyUSTe Portal.
Padua’s memo said the University’s contract with Microsoft was set to expire at the end of Academic Year 2025-2026 and a decision on renewal would be made in March 2026. With reports from Marielle F. Pesa and Regina Louise DLC. Sanota
