Following Google’s policy update, De La Salle Lipa (DLSL) implemented a limitation on all Google Drive accounts, reducing the storage from unlimited to 25 GB last Aug. 30.
This policy update back in July 2022 focused on promoting digital literacy as Google aims to support more schools. As a result, Google restricted educational institutions, including DLSL, from unlimited storage to a shared 100 TB pool due to a rapid increase in storage demand and unequal consumption.
As a response, DLSL availed of a bigger plan of around 400 TB of storage which they distributed among students, partners, and service units.
In an interview with Lavoxa Online, Information and Communications Technology Center (ICTC) Director Lea Abarentos suggested that students should regularly delete unnecessary files and choose more storage-efficient ways to practice proactive data management.
“It’s very important that we should be responsible also when it comes to file management. […] The bigger file size that you generate, if you load it online, you’ll suffer from the efficiency,” said Abarentos.
Abarentos further mentioned that ICTC may approach this issue by assessing the organizations’ needs and students’ course requirements so that they can provide more or less cloud storage based on the results of the assessment.
“If you think there’s really a need [of additional storage] for your organization […] we will come up with a survey […] for us to evaluate the storage allocations of our students,” said Abarentos.
Moreover, Abarentos emphasized that unlimited Google Drive storage will not be returning due to its high costs which could lead to greater financial burdens. Abarentos also noted that offering unlimited storage hinders the ability to teach students responsible file management.
As a result, this reduction from unlimited storage to a 25 GB cap per account made students rethink of their data usage strategies.
Robyn Gonzales, a second-year Multimedia Arts student and iMedia officer, shared that she struggles to manage large files for both academic and organization-related work due to the very limited Google Drive storage space.
“Files are really big to ensure the quality of my works and [the storage is] easy to get full. […] I’m the current Vice President for Internal Affairs [of iMedia] so it has a really big effect because I handle a lot of files regarding that,” said Gonzales.
Moreover, Khalil David Esgadin, a fourth-year Computer Engineering student who is also in-charge of the general activities of the Association of Computer Engineers (ACES), faces challenges with the recent storage limits.
“I had to clear two years’ worth of files, photos, videos, and other creative materials, […] you just have to prioritize the files you need, disregard the rest,” said Esgadin.
As of November 2024, 257.5 TB have been allocated to the accounts of 10,300 enrolled students, 40 TB for Lasallian Partners, and 10 TB for service units. On the other hand, alumni accounts have the highest storage allocation of 3,130 TB.
Alumni account deletions began this January 2025 to double allocations for current accounts based on individual needs and usage.
Article by Rafael Mendoza
