University Zoom License Changes

Overview

In response to changes to Zoom's educational offerings, Pepperdine University will update its Zoom license provisioning later this summer. This change will affect only student licenses; faculty, staff, and healthcare licenses will not be affected.

What is happening?

Beginning August 1, 2026, all student Zoom accounts will transition to Zoom Meetings Basic licenses. Full Zoom licenses for faculty, staff, and healthcare will remain unchanged.

Here is a brief summary of changes for student Zoom accounts:

• Student meetings will allow up to 100 participants.
• Student meetings will have a maximum duration of 40 minutes.
• Students may record meetings on their local computers.
• Student meetings will retain most standard features, except cloud recording, polling, surveys, and limited AI Companion options.

Please refer to our Google Meet and Zoom Meetings Comparison for more details.

What do I need to do?

Students should review the full set of Zoom Meetings Basic features to understand how student-hosted meetings will change. Students may use Google Meet as an alternative to Zoom, with longer meetings, recording options, and other advanced features.

Faculty and staff who leverage student-hosted Zoom meetings for academic or operational purposes should switch to faculty- or staff-hosted Zoom meetings to ensure the best experience.

Why is this happening?

In the wake of the Woolsey Fire in 2018, the University invested in Zoom's Education plan, providing Zoom Meetings Education licenses for every student, faculty, and staff member to support the rapid transition to remote work and learning. That decision also allowed Pepperdine to pivot quickly to remote learning in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world.

Recently, Zoom announced that education plans are being phased out. First, Zoom will no longer provide free student licenses for academic institutions. Next, the company is also raising its fees significantly, prompting Pepperdine to change how it allocates Zoom licenses to maintain business and teaching continuity, and to re-evaluate our video conferencing options.

Are there any alternatives to Zoom Meetings?

Yes! Google Meet is available for students looking for a more robust meeting platform compared to the Zoom Meetings Basic features. With Google Meet, students will enjoy longer meetings (up to 24 hours), transcripts, live translations, recording, and more.

Faculty and staff also have access to Google Meet under our existing Google Workspace agreement.

What happens to my existing Zoom data?

All existing data, including transcripts, summaries, recordings, and scheduled meetings, will remain available within the established Zoom data retention period.

Help and support

IT is already engaging with academic leadership groups to identify specific use cases that may need to be considered. If you are aware of a specific use case that might be impacted by this change to student licenses, please email informationtechnology@pepperdine.edu.

For assistance with Google Meet or Zoom Meetings, please contact Tech Central at 310.506.4357.