Why should I have a second or personal email address?

There are several reasons why you should have a personal email address that is separate from the address associated with your ND NetID:  Please consider:

• Keep personal and ND business separate
• Required for a self-service password reset when you can't access your ND email
• If you leave ND (other than retirement which usually allows you to keep your ND email), you will lose access to your ND NetID and email and could have problems accessing personal data (stored in Google) and personal services (e.g. banks) that link to that email.
• Reduce junk/spam email to your work/school email when you provide an email address to a store, website etc.
• If you need to store personal documents containing highly sensitive information (HSI), such as a tax return, we recommend using storage associated with a personal email address (such as Google Drive affiliated with a personal gmail account). 
• You have control of the personal account and manage the relationship with your service provider.
• You can share a personal account with other family members if desired, without violating the Responsible Use Policy at Notre Dame.

You can create a personal email address at no cost from a variety of services, such as gmail.com (find instructions here). To add additional security to a personal gmail account, please reference this link to add 2-step verification. In addition, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) for your home, or your cell provider may include an email address as part of the service you are already paying for.