Features
Eligible students are automatically provisioned with the following IT services.
Basic Services
Microsoft 365 Services
Google Services
Who Can Get It
These services are provided to new students in the following groups who have been admitted and confirmed their intent to enroll:
- Undergraduate students
- Graduate students
- CU Boulder Online students
- Continuing Education students (credit or noncredit)
- Auditors
How to Get It
OIT automatically provisions new students with these services approximately one business day after their IdentiKey is created.
What to Expect If Your Eligibility Changes
OIT will adjust your access to IT services when your primary role changes or your eligibility is reevaluated based on a previous role change or an OIT policy change.
If the adjustment will result in a loss of services, you'll receive an automated email notifying you of the change and providing a grace period.
Changes to Your Primary Role
If your primary role changes in a way that affects your eligibility for IT services, OIT will automatically adjust your access to align with your new eligibility.
If you change your mind about attending CU Boulder
If you confirm your intent to enroll but later decide not to come to CU Boulder after all, your Microsoft and Google access will be removed as soon as your status changes from active to inactive.
This will typically happen by the fourth week of classes if you don't request a term change by the deadline.
If you take a job as a student employee
Many CU Boulder departments prefer to set up secondary (EXC) email accounts for student employees. If you're given one of these accounts (e.g., rabu1234exc), keep in mind that it will only exist while you're employed by the department. Once your employment ends, your supervisor will ask OIT to delete your student employee account.
Make sure to save work-related files in the department's file storage system rather than your student employee OneDrive, because it will go away once you leave.
If you're hired as an affiliate
As long as your student eligibility doesn't change, you won't lose access to any services.
Depending on the tasks required for your role, you may gain access to software that's specific to those duties.
If you're hired as a faculty or staff member
If your new role is eligible for employee-level services (see Accounts & Eligibility - Employees), you'll gain access to two services:
- Microsoft Teams Calls
- Phone extension (department must request)
Once OIT receives confirmation of your new role, you'll be automatically provisioned for Teams Calls and be eligible for a phone extension.
If you take a leave of absence
If you apply for and are approved to take an official leave of absence, you'll keep your Microsoft 365 student account for the duration of your approved time-off period.
If you're not on an official leave of absence or if you don't return by the leave deadline, you'll be discontinued from the university after a set period of time (see "How to Withdraw & How to Return" for details).
If you stop taking classes and are dropped from your program
If you stop making progress in your academic program, your student record will be flagged as inactive (see "How to Withdraw & How to Return" for details) and you will no longer be eligible for most campus-provided IT services.
| Original Role | New Role | Services Retained | Services Discontinued |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student | Former Student | IdentiKey, Buff Portal | CU Boulder email, Microsoft 365 Online, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft 365 desktop apps, Google Workspace, Google Drive, VPN service |
To learn more, see Accounts & Eligibility - Former Students.
If you graduate from CU Boulder
Once your degree or certificate posts to your transcript (which happens approximately one month after commencement or your degree conferral date), you'll have three months to save any important files from your CU Boulder Google and Microsoft accounts before your IT access changes to temporary alumni services.
| Original Role | Temporary Role | Services Retained | Services Adjusted | Services Discontinued |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Student | Alum | IdentiKey, Buff Portal | CU Boulder email storage reduced to 50GB | Microsoft 365 Online, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft 365 desktop apps, Google Workspace, Google Drive, VPN service |
After one year, you will lose access to your CU Boulder email account, as well. To learn more, see Accounts & Eligibility - Alumni.
Reevaluations of Your Eligibility
If OIT reevaluates your eligibility for IT services, you'll receive an email indicating that your Microsoft license is being adjusted from one role-based license (e.g., student) to another (e.g., affiliate).
This reevaluation may be due to a previous role change that OIT didn't fully address at the time or to recent changes to OIT's eligibility policies.
If you're changing to an affiliate license
If the email from OIT states that your Microsoft license is changing to an affiliate license, then you can expect your access to IT services to change as follows:
| Original License | New License | Services Retained | Services Adjusted | Services Discontinued |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Student | Affiliate | IdentiKey, Buff Portal, Microsoft 365 Online, Google Workspace, Google Drive, VPN service | CU Boulder email storage reduced to 50GB, Microsoft OneDrive storage reduced to 100GB | Microsoft 365 desktop apps |
To learn more, see Accounts & Eligibility - Affiliates.
If you're changing to a temporary alumni license
If the email from OIT states that your Microsoft license is changing to a temporary alumni license, then you can expect your access to IT services to change as follows:
| Original License | Temporary License | Services Retained | Services Adjusted | Services Discontinued |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Student | Alumni | IdentiKey, Buff Portal | CU Boulder email storage reduced to 50GB | Microsoft 365 Online, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft 365 desktop apps, Google Workspace, Google Drive, VPN service |
After one year, you will lose access to your CU Boulder email account, as well. To learn more, see Accounts & Eligibility - Alumni.
If you're changing to a retiree license
If the email from OIT states that your Microsoft license is changing to a retiree license, then you can expect your access to IT services to change as follows:
| Original License | New License | Services Retained | Services Adjusted | Services Discontinued |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Student | Retiree | IdentiKey, Buff Portal, employee portals* | CU Boulder email storage reduced to 50GB | Microsoft 365 Online, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft 365 desktop apps, Google Workspace, Google Drive, VPN service |
*Retirees who select their annual benefits through CU's open enrollment process will retain access to the employee portal as long as their IdentiKey credentials remain active.
To learn more about retiree eligibility, see Accounts & Eligibility - Retirees.
If you're not currently eligible for a Microsoft license
If the email from OIT states that you're not currently eligible for Microsoft services, then you can expect to lose access to most other IT services as well.
| Original License | New License | Services Retained | Services Discontinued |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student | None | IdentiKey, Buff Portal | CU Boulder email, Microsoft 365 Online, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft 365 desktop apps, Google Workspace, Google Drive, VPN service |
To learn more, see Accounts & Eligibility - Former Students.
What to Do Before You Leave
If you're leaving the university without earning a degree or certificate, complete the recommended digital offboarding tasks for departing students linked below.
These steps will help you preserve important OneDrive data and email messages; transfer ownership of shared documents or calendars; update your login, MFA and account recovery email for external services; and close out your CU Boulder email account.
