Help My School Get a .EDU!

September 10, 2007 3:48 AM

How does the HS I work for go about getting a .edu domain name? I've done some preliminary searching, and the internet is doing a good job hiding the info from me.

Although I'm a teacher, I'm trying to get our HS a bit more tech savvy, like, duh, having a website. I'd like to get a domain name ending in .edu, primarily so I can start implementing Google Apps, the professional version of which requires a domain name.

posted by bronxteacher to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

If I recall correctly, .edu is reserved for 4 year colleges and universities. The high schools you see with .edu domain names are grandfathered in from before the domain granting bodies were so strict about enforcing these guidelines.

Generally speaking, private schools tend to use .org and public schools use their school district's hierarchy. (k12.va.us, for example)

Of course, I live in Fairfax County, VA, so my entire local public school system is on a .edu and all bets are off. But there are reasons we're referred to as the "internet capital."
posted by wildeepdotorg at 4:02 AM on September 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

wildeepdotorg has it. .edu is strictly for degree-granting institutions now. Years and years ago it was a lot more flexible but it hasn't been for a decade or more.

I'd be surprised if your school board doesn't already have a domain in which it issues subdomains to schools.
posted by mendel at 4:18 AM on September 10, 2007

Edus are assigned by Educause. But I'm afraid that the folks above are right. They're reserved for colleges and universities for the most part. Here's the policy statement for their assignment.
posted by Toekneesan at 4:33 AM on September 10, 2007

Primary and secondary schools in the US are usually allocated subdomains under .k12.STATE.us / pvt.k12.STATE.us for some private schools. Many schools just go and get a .org to save administrivia.
posted by deeaytch at 4:57 AM on September 10, 2007

When I worked as a tech director, we settled on a .net domain since .edu was unavailable. We got .net for the district and hung the schools as subdomains under it.
posted by plinth at 5:50 AM on September 10, 2007

oh and by the way last time i checked you don't have to have an edu domain name to use the google apps education edition. they just have to approve the fact that you are a school and they will grant you the rights.
posted by DJWeezy at 7:41 AM on September 10, 2007

this is true because our independent school has a .org and uses the Google Apps for our email system.
posted by spynotebook at 7:14 AM on October 6, 2007