.edu domains

How to buy a .edu domain? GoDaddy told me they do not deal with it.

 

Only education related organizations or institutes can register .edu domain, here is the site from where they register it.

 

only educational institutes can register .edu

if you are really really into buying a .edu there might be expensive ways

 

Yes, only educational institutes can register .edu domains. However, some of existing .edu domains are also assiciated with the museums or other things that are associated with the educational institutes. For example, fi.edu is a website for a museum.

 

I've published on this topic in the past, and as a refresher, will summarize main regulations below:

1. Current Regulations. Currently, new EDU registrations are reserved only for institutions accredited by agencies on the US Department of Education list, and the so-called EDU management organizations (e.g. University of California Reagents), that oversee multiple universities. Legally there is no geographical restriction for new EDUs, and a number of foreign universities accredited by US accrediting agencies have .EDU (e.g. www.london.edu - London Business School).

2. Grandfathered Clause. Prior to 2001, EDU domains were managed by NetworkSolutions, which had somewhat different rules than the current registrar. As a result, when the US Department of Commerce transferred the administration to Educause, they stipulated a grandfathered clause. The grandfathered clause states that any EDU registered prior to 2001 does not need to meet accreditation requirements and other post-2001 stipulations (such as the 1 name per school restriction).

As a result, there are many non-university organizations that own EDU, including high schools, museums, associations, and for-profit corporations (e.g. Montgomery Blair High School - www.mbhs.edu; J. Paul Getty Trust - www.getty.edu; Exploratorium Science Museum - www.exploratorium.edu, just to name a few).

3. How to get .EDU Unless you're an accredited school, you cannot register a new .EDU. Neither can you buy an EDU domain as they cannot be bought or sold directly, only through the transfer of organizational ownership.

Thus, an individual can only get an EDU by buying an entire school / organization, which owns a grandfathered .EDU (typically, this will be a small school that closed its doors or never took off the ground because of funding, etc.). Avg. price of these deals ~ $10-30K.

PM me if you have any questions.

 

by the way why are you looking to buy a .edu domain

 

CoolCode, people are interested in EDUs for a variety of reasons, among which 2 are the most dominant. First, most EDUs are bought for a different reason than a typical domain. Namely to offer an educational program or some type of EDU-related product/service. Because the process of accreditation takes 3-4 years and can cost upward of $100K, which is what would be required to register a new EDU, oftentimes there is a preference to back into (acquire) an existing school with the EDU domain to have a marketing advantage.

In terms of ROI, the logic goes that if a US-based school doesn't have an .EDU domain, it's not perceived to be a real school. Therefore, .EDU domain is essential for US schools to succeed, and $10-30K is a drop in a bucket compared to losing hundreds of potential students and revenue.

Second, many domain investors perceive an EDU to be more valuable (because of supply/demand mathematics and SEO) + there are certain bragging rights associated with owning an EDU (like a van Gogh).

 

I supposed the other option is to buy over the school which uses the .edu which you want to buy

 

no need to be institutes to register .edu but absolutly have to related to educational

 

Since 2001 only accredited educational institutions in the USA can get .edu

 

So that mean it is virtually impossible to own an .edu domain.

 

locjan - that's not true. I've explained current EDU regulations above so folks don't get confused.

tobycoke - that's not true either. The geography is irrelevant. The school does NOT have to be US-based...only to be accredited by specific organizations listed on the US Department of Education list. There are a number of schools outside of the US that qualify for EDU domains under current regulations.

poshswinger - indeed, it is almost impossible to own an EDU, unless you acquire an old school/organization, which owns a grandfathered EDU. The price of such deals is $10-30K and higher, depending on the EDU. PM me if you have more questions.