We set up a Gmail account for all things college and set up automatic forward to both DS and I. Worked like a charm. We both got the emails to our personal accounts and I would go in periodically to delete the junk. We liked this system as we didn’t have to remember to periodically check another email account and were able to respond to important emails timely. He did get emails from various colleges that he wasn’t interested in, but it was never a problem. He is a junior in college who will soon be applying to grad school and will once again use this email.
My DD set up a new email for college apps…her old one involved cows and her new one is first initial last name based. It was easier for her to share with me to let me help her keep track of things. (older daughter did everything herself, younger one was happy for me to help). She used it for all colleges stuff.
My youngest children only have “college ready” email addresses.
My oldest has “his own that we’re not supposed to know about” but we do, and he uses the one we created for him for sports recruiting and college for applications and school.
We never use our full names on emails, but will use two initials.