Higher education institutions have various ways to manage email communications and implement architecture that offers reliable service at reduced cost. This paper reports the results of study of email options used by higher education institutions. The two major email architectures that education institutions can implement are traditional on-premise and cloud services. This research finds that many institutions are shifting from on-premise to cloud based email which offer significant benefits as

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... reduced cost and maintenance but have various risks related to privacy and confidentiality of student information. A hybrid model is a combination of on-premise and cloud services which offers benefits of clouds with low risks. This research will help higher education institutions who want to transition to the cloud understand risks associated with migrating and provides ways to balance the benefits and risks.