What Happens When You Graduate: Steps to Take Before Becoming an Alum
You will not be able to access most of your Cornell accounts after you graduate. Plan now to transfer data important to you, such as email, files, passwords, surveys, publications, research, blogs, presentations, etc.
This article applies to: Students
As you move on from your Big Red experience, make sure that your hard work “graduates” with you. When you transition to alum, you’ll leave behind the services that Cornell offers to enrolled students. (If you continue to work for the university after graduation, read more about what may be available to you as an employee.)
The chart below summarizes the most common services used by students and offers suggestions about what steps to take next.
| Service (links open the app) | What should I do? |
|---|---|
Box | Transfer ownership of folders and documents related to department or student organization activities to an appropriate person. Move your files to a personal storage account. Some options include a personal Box account*, DropBox, personal Google Drive, or your local hard drive. Other storage options exist, both paid and free, and we encourage you to choose the best option for your personal situation. The information at Move Your Data Stored in Box will help you understand some of the choices and tools available to you. * Box offers a free personal account, but this does not automatically transfer files from your Cornell Box account. |
Canvas | Access to Canvas is not specifically removed for students who leave the university. However, you will only be able to see courses to which you have been added by an instructor. |
Cornell Blogs | Assign administrative access to another person for departmental or university blogs that you maintained, and which need to remain active. You will not have access to personal blogs that you created through the CU Blog Service. Before your status changes, keep a copy of any blogs you want to save by exporting the blog. |
Electronic Pay Stubs in Workday | Log on to Workday and download PDFs of pay stubs that you want to keep. The university will mail you tax documents at the beginning of next year, so remember to update your address in Workday so these documents reach you. |
Email and Storage | Graduating students keep their Cornell NetID email address and 5 Gigabytes (GB) of storage space. If you have more than 5 GB in your account, you'll need to reduce below 5 GB once your studies are complete. More details are available at Alumni Frequently Asked Questions About Storage Changes. |
Google Workspace | Your Cornell Google account will continue with a 5 GB limit. If you have more than 5 GB in your account, you'll need to reduce below 5 GB once your studies are complete. More details are available at Alumni Frequently Asked Questions About Storage Changes. |
LastPass | Your LastPass account will be converted to a free personal account. Your credentials will continue to work, but shared folder information will go away. If you enrolled in LastPass Families, the associated accounts will convert to Free accounts, which may affect shared folders. (You will have the option to convert to a LastPass Premium subscription, which will preserve some Families benefits.) LastPass accounts that have transitioned to free personal accounts are not protected by Cornell’s two-factor authentication. Set up another form of two-factor authentication to protect your personal LastPass accounts, such as LastPass's Authenticator. |
Library Resources | Alumni have access to library print and online resources when licenses permit. Refer to the Cornell University Library site for specific information. |
LinkedIn Learning | If you wish to keep using LinkedIn, and do not have access through an employer, you will need to purchase a personal LinkedIn Learning subscription to continue using the service. If you have a personal LinkedIn Learning account, link it to your Cornell LinkedIn Learning account before you leave. For details on how to do that, visit Connecting your LinkedIn Profile. |
Microsoft Office | You will be prompted by Microsoft to purchase Office the next time you launch the software. If you don’t purchase Office, you will still be able to open the documents you created but won’t be able to edit them or create new documents. In addition to purchasing your own Office license, there are many paid and free alternatives. We encourage you to choose the best option for your personal situation. |
Microsoft Teams | Students leaving Cornell (by graduating or otherwise), will lose their Cornell Microsoft Teams accounts. Data stored in teams will not be removed and will continue to be accessible by other team members. If you have shared files in Teams that you need continued access to, be sure to back those files up to your personal storage. |
OneDrive | Transfer documents related to class, department, or student organization activities to an appropriate person. Move your files to a personal storage account. Some options include a personal Box account, DropBox, Google Drive, Microsoft, or your local hard drive. Other storage options exist, both paid and free, and we encourage you to choose the best option for your personal situation. The information at Move Your Data Stored in OneDrive will help you understand some of the choices and tools available to you. |
OneNote | Students leaving Cornell (by graduating or otherwise) will lose access to OneNote. OneNote notebooks need to be transferred to a personal OneDrive or saved in PDF format. The OneNote (.one or .onetoc2) files cannot simply be copied like a normal file. This content is stored in a proprietary format that cannot be opened by other applications. Individual OneNote pages and sections can also be saved as Word documents using OneNote’s File menu > Export option. It is a good idea to try these methods well in advance of losing your Cornell licensing. |
Qualtrics | You will no longer have access to surveys you created or to which you had administrative access. Before your status changes: Transfer ownership of surveys that will remain active by emailing surveys@cornell.edu with:
Keep a copy of surveys you want to save by exporting the surveys as a txt or qsf file. Keep a copy of survey data you want to save by downloading the data in a variety of formats. Close open surveys. |
Student Essentials | You will continue to have access to Student Essentials. |
Who I Am | You will continue to have access to Who I Am. |
Zoom | Your account will become a free, basic Zoom account, and you will need to login using Zoom's sign-in page rather than the Cornell Zoom login page. (As a reminder, you will no longer be able to join Cornell Zoom meetings that are restricted to authenticated Cornell users.) |
If you don’t see a CIT-provided software or service listed here that you have access to as a university student, please contact the IT Service Desk for guidance.
Support Contact:
Cornell IT Service Desk
Normal Business Hours: Monday-Friday, 8am-6pm (Eastern Time)
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