Did you have a .edu domain and want to create email addresses for use by your party? Or were you looking to get someone with an existing .edu domain name to provide email accounts for your team? Or were you needing both the .edu domain as well as email services for your staff?
.EDU, much like many other domain extensions are not publicly available for registration and so registering one may be out of the question, unless you are prepared to follow the request process at EDUCAUSE. If this is the case, check to see if your preferred .edu domain is available:
http://whois.educause.edu/
For hosting your existing domian's email service, you have a lot of options. For your institution of higher learning, you will probably want to sign up with a dedicated email provider, such as
JangoMail or
MessageGears, who will provide consistent service delivery and support.
For accessing email addresses from an existing 3rd Party's .edu domain, this might prove to be challenging. Handing out .edu email addresses to unrelated 3rd parties seems risky and might jeopardize the possibility of renewing the domain if this behavior does not comply with the .edu domain registration terms of service. At the very least, it would certainly open the .edu Registrant up for much higher risk of spam and could potentially affect their ability to successfully deliver their emails.
