CUNY is upgrading student email across all colleges to create a more modern, unified, and secure communication system. This transition ensures every CUNY student has consistent experience across platforms and receives important messages reliably.
Why This Change Is Happening
- One Mailbox and One Login Across CUNY - Students will no longer manage separate SPS and CUNY identities. Instead, all email addresses connect to one central Microsoft 365 mailbox and one standardized login.
- Stronger Security - By consolidating accounts into the updated system, CUNY can provide better protection against phishing, hacking attempts, and spam.
- More Reliable Delivery of Important Emails - A unified system improves message delivery and reduces issues where students miss essential academic or administrative emails.
- Better Integration with Microsoft 365 - The new account format aligns with Microsoft’s best practices, ensuring smoother use of Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, and other tools used throughout CUNY.
This Spring Break (April 2026), CUNY SPS will transition student email to a unified CUNY-wide system. When you return on April 13, 2026, your student email will move from spsmail.cuny.edu to a new standardized set of addresses:
What's Changing
- A new email login username (firstname.lastname##@login.cuny.edu)
- Example Lexington.Lynx03@login.cuny.edu
- You will no longer be signing on with your current login – Lexington.Lynx03@spsmail.cuny.edu
- A new email will replace the old domain name (spsmail.cuny.edu) with a new university campus standardized format (stu-mail.sps.cuny.edu)
- Current campus email account format - Lexington.Lynx03@spsmail.cuny.edu
- New campus email account format – Lexington.Lynx03@stu-mail.sps.cuny.edu
- A new CUNY-wide email (cuny.edu) will be created
- A CUNY wide email address gives every student a single, unified digital identity across the entire University. Instead of each college using its own isolated email system, CUNY is moving all students onto a standardized platform so communication, security, and access to services are consistent no matter which campus you interact with.
- Example of CUNY-wide email - Lexington.Lynx03@cuny.edu
What Happens to Your Current SPS Email? (spsmail.cuny.edu)
Existing CUNY SPS email account and all its contents will transition smoothly during the migration. Here’s what you can expect:
- Your current SPS mailbox will be copied automatically - All emails, folders, and content from your @spsmail.cuny.edu account will be transferred into your new CUNY mailbox. Nothing will be deleted or removed.
- You will retain access to your old account for an extended period - Even after the transition, you will still be able to view your old SPS mailbox for a while. This ensures you have time to adjust, verify your data, and update any services or contacts as needed.
- New mail sent to your old SPS address will be auto forwarded - If anyone continues emailing your @spsmail.cuny.edu address, the messages will automatically arrive in your new mailbox. You will not miss communication sent to your old address.
- Senders will receive an autoreply with your updated address - Anyone who emails your old SPS address will receive an automatic message letting them know your new, updated email address so they can update their records.
Important Information About Your OneDrive and Stored Files
Only your emails from your current CUNY SPS account will be transferred to your new CUNY mailbox. If you have any files stored in Microsoft OneDrive or other Microsoft cloud services associated with your spsmail.cuny.edu account, those files will not move automatically during the transition. To retain access to them, you will need to download your files to your computer before the transition and then upload them into the storage space provided by your new account once it becomes available. This step is important to ensure that none of your documents, class materials, or personal files are lost during the email system change.