About .EDU Top Level Domain
.EDU TLD is a Sponsored Top-Level Domain within the arena of the Internet, which is highly famous in the education field. As it is a sponsored TLD, it represents a particular field that is education and is being used by the educational institutions that are responsible for granting higher-level degrees, affiliated with the US.
It was launched on 1st January 1985 and was implemented in the month of April. This highly popular TLD is managed by EduCause. Plus, they also look after providing the registration to those who fulfill the criteria.
The Interesting History and Facts of .EDU TLD
A fascinating fact about .EDU TLD is that it was being registered without any cost before 2001. However, after 2001, EduCause was appointed by the U.S. Department of Commerce as the registrar of the .EDU TLD.
Before that, Network Solutions was the registrar of this domain name. In 2006, EduCause was asked to charge a certain yearly fee from the educational institutions that were registered with this domain name.
Also, after 2001, only those educational institutions could register .EDU TLD who were affiliated with the United States’ Institutes of Higher Education. Before that, anyone could register an .EDU TLD. Even non-educational institutions were allowed to register with .EDU TLD.
Furthermore, the .EDU TLD was restricted to the institutions that were providing postsecondary education and were accredited by the US Department of Education.
As mentioned previously, in the earlier days, the .EDU TLD could be obtained by even a non-educational institution, though the domain name was specifically launched for educational institutes only.
Nonetheless, a museum of San Francisco known as Exploratorium obtained its .EDU TLD. It all happened because the rules and regulations were not up to the mark formerly.
But, after the implementation of the above-mentioned strict policies, the number of fake and fraudulent institutions was reduced by a significant degree. A number of ineligible and inactive domains have been caught and eliminated, thereby.
Additionally, the EduCause is working hard to further tighten the rules and regulations for a safe, sound, and overall a better educational space.
Usage Recommendations
The .EDU TLD is the best domain for the educational institutions without a single doubt. But, it is exceedingly restricted!
You would only get an .EDU TLD if your institution is providing postsecondary education, affiliated with the US Department of Education.
Even the highly famous Coursera and Udemy had to settle for different domain names, despite being the top websites for providing online courses.
Nonetheless, if you are running an educational institution that provides a degree of higher level in the US, then definitely, you have got no better option than opting for .EDU TLD.
EndNote
As mentioned before, the .EDU TLD is a greatly restricted domain name. So, only the educational institutes that would fulfill the criteria would obtain the .EDU TLD.
Nevertheless, the strict policies are only laid in order to strengthen the educational system and to safeguard the students from being misled into false tactics of the educational institutions.
