To .EDU or to not .EDU?

To .EDU or to not .EDU, that is the question.

Recently I attended a Marketing and Communications meeting where the topic of the .EDU domain was discussed. It was a very interesting discussion and one worth sharing within the context of the CareerTech System.

We started the conversation by discussing what was meant behind the original domains of the WWW. The .COM, or commercial domains, anyone can get while .ORG is for non-commercial organizations like foundations and volunteer groups. The .NET is usually used by ISP providers and .GOV is limited to US govt entities and agencies.

The .EDU domain is limited to institutuions of learning and career and technical organizations fall into that category.

There were several reasons that were given to switching to a .EDU address.

• Potential Savings - One technology center that made the switch to .EDU was able to save a substantial amount of money through education discounts on software and technology.
• Legitimacy - While .COM's and .ORG's can be used by anyone, you must applyand use of the .EDU domain can only be an accredited post-secondary institutions, almost entirely within the United States of America and must be accredited by an agency on the U.S. Department of Education's list of Nationally recognized accrediting agencies.
  

Here is a breakdown of technology centers and their domains:

.EDU
Central Tech http://www.centraltech.edu
Francis Tuttle http://www.francistuttle.edu
Northeast Tech http://www.netech.edu
Tulsa Tech http://www.tulsatech.edu

.ORG
Canadian Valley http://www.cvtech.org
Eastern Oklahoma County http://www.eoctech.org
Gordon Cooper http://www.gctech.org
Great Plains http://www.gptech.org
Kiamichi http://www.okktc.org
Metro http://www.metrotech.org
Mid-America http://www.matech.org
Pioneer http://pioneertech.org
SOTC http://www.sotc.org
Southwest http://swtc.org
Tri County http://tctc.org
Wes Watkins http://www.wwtech.org

.NET
High Plains http://www.hptc.net

.TEC.OK.US
Mid-Del http://www.mid-del.tec.ok.us
Red River http://www.redriver.tec.ok.us
Western http://www.wtc.tec.ok.us/

.COM
Autry http://www.autrytech.com
Caddo Kiowa http://www.caddokiowa.com
Chisholm Trail http://www.chisholmtrail.com
Gordon Cooper http://www.gctech.com
Indian Capitol http://www.ictctech.com
Meridian http://www.meridian-technology.com
Moore-Norman http://www.mntechnology.com
Northwest http://www.nwtechonline.com
Pontotoc http://www.pontotoc.com

Should you change?

More info can be found at Wikipedia's .EDU entry