How to Set Up a Google Apps for Education Domain

Your school will need to choose a unique domain for Google Apps for Education. Someone will need to purchase this domain from a hosting service, like GoDaddy for example. Once your school has decided on a domain and purchased it through a hosting service, someone will need to sign up for a Google Apps for Education account using that domain.

Once the domain is purchased, you will need to sign up for a new Google Apps account with the name of the domain. (Please see the step below if you already have a Google Apps domain established). Use this link to get started:

https://www.google.com/a/signup/?enterprise_product=GOOGLE.EDU#

At some point your school will need to prove ownership of that domain with Google (generally done through MX records, found through the hosting service). It's possible for Google to take a while to establish this kind of account, so I recommend whoever goes through this process work closely with Google to ensure the domain is upgraded as soon as possible (usually by calling their support line). A non-upgraded version of Google Apps will only allow for 10 users. Google Apps for Education is a free upgrade.

Here's an FAQ for more information on Google Apps from Google Support:

https://support.google.com/a/answer/139019?hl=en

If your school already has an established Google Apps standard domain (non-upgraded), you can request that it be upgraded here:

http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/request.py?contact_type=nonprofit