Features
Eligible students are automatically provisioned with the following IT services.
Basic 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
Adjustments to your IT services occur when your primary role changes or when OIT reevaluates your eligibility based on a previous role change or a policy change.
If your new eligibility entitles you to fewer services, OIT will notify you of the change and provide 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 you are discontinued as a student. 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 Exchange (EXC) accounts for student employees. If you're given an EXC account (e.g., rabu1234exc), keep in mind that it will only exist as long as you're employed by the department. Once your employment ends, your supervisor will ask OIT to delete your EXC account.
Make sure to save work-related files in the department's file storage system rather than your EXC account's OneDrive, because it will go away once you leave.
If you're hired as a limited employee
As long as your student eligibility doesn't change, you won't lose access to any services. Depending on your work role, you may gain access to software that's specific to your job duties for the duration of your employment.
If you're hired as a faculty or staff member
If your new role is eligible for full employee-level services (see Accounts & Eligibility - Employees), you'll gain access to two services:
Once OIT receives confirmation of your new role, you'll be automatically provisioned for Teams Calls and be eligible to request 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're discontinued from the university
If you stop taking classes at CU Boulder, you'll be discontinued from the university after a set period of time (see "How to Withdraw & How to Return" for details).
If you don't have an ongoing role that entitles you to IT services (e.g., employee, alum, retiree), you'll lose access approximately three months after you're discontinued. When that happens, your email account, Microsoft OneDrive files and Google Drive files will be permanently deleted.
Once OIT receives confirmation of your departure, we'll send a message to your CU Boulder email account specifying when these changes will occur.
If you graduate from CU Boulder
Once you become a CU Boulder alum, you'll have a grace period of approximately three months before your IT access changes to email-only services.
| Original Role | New 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 |
To learn more, see Alumni - Microsoft and Google Account Access.
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., limited employee).
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 a limited employee license
If the email from OIT states that your Microsoft services are being adjusted from a student license to a limited employee 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 | Limited employee | 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 |
If you are an unpaid faculty member or have a POI Type C designation, then these are the correct IT services for your role. To learn more about limited employee eligibility, see Accounts & Eligibility - Limited Employees.
If you are not currently in one of these positions, then this is likely a temporary adjustment while OIT continues to review your eligibility. You can expect your license to be adjusted again in subsequent months.
If you're changing to an alumni license
If the email from OIT states that you're being adjusted from a student license to an alumni 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 | 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 |
To learn more about alumni eligibility, see Alumni - Microsoft and Google Account Access.
If you're changing to a retiree license
If the email from OIT states that you're being adjusted from a student license 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 Retirees - Microsoft and Google Account Access.
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 all other IT services as well. OIT will permanently delete your email account and your Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive files on the date specified in the email.
To learn more, see Accounts & Eligibility - Former Employees & Students.
What to do before you leave
Once you graduate or are discontinued from the university, you'll have approximately three months to review your Google and Microsoft files and complete the following steps.
Move important files to personal storage
Transfer files you need to keep to a non-CU Boulder location, like a personal hard drive or cloud storage account.
- Microsoft OneDrive - Download Files to Your Computer (OIT tutorial)
- Google Drive - Copy Content from Your School Account to Another Account (Google tutorial)
Note: OIT can't help you transfer files to a personal storage location or recover them after they've been deleted.
Transfer ownership of shared files
If you own any shared files that are still being used by others, be sure to transfer ownership to a current CU Boulder student or employee.
- Microsoft OneDrive - Transfer Ownership of Shared Files (OIT tutorial)
- Google Drive - Make Someone Else the Owner of Your File (Google tutorial)
Change your contact info for external services that use your CU Boulder email address
Identify any services that use your CU Boulder email address as a primary or backup contact method and update those accounts before you lose email access. The service may send a confirmation code to your CU Boulder email address to ensure the request is legitimate.