Cal Poly Account Management

Account Creation, Expiration, and Extension

Cal Poly accounts are automatically provided to students, faculty, and staff. Accounts for clubs, departments and guests of the university must be requested. When you leave Cal Poly, you may still have access to some university resources for a limited period of time.

Role	Account Creation	Action Required	Account Expiration	Action Required

Role	Account Creation	Action Required	Account Expiration	Action Required
Student Applicant	Applicants automatically receive an account when they submit their Cal Poly application.	To activate your account, see Applicant First Time Account Activation and follow the instructions.
Students	When applicants become students, their account transitions over. Students receive access to Cal Poly email and Office 365 well ahead of their first quarter, usually in July.	No action required. Applicant accounts are converted to student accounts during the admissions process.	6 months after graduation Office 365 account, which includes Cal Poly email and OneDrive access, expires* ~2 years (8 academic quarters) after graduation My Cal Poly Portal access expires 2 years after graduation Zoom access expires NOTE: Student Microsoft 365 accounts also expire if a student stops attending classes for 3 quarters and has not yet graduated.	To maintain read-only access to your Cal Poly email account, you must set up an Email Delivery Address (EDA). This forwards your Cal Poly email to an off-campus account up until your My Cal Poly Portal access expires.
Faculty	Faculty automatically receive an account when they are hired.	No action required. Faculty accounts are created in coordination with Academic Personnel.	No action required. If you have eligibility concerns, contact Academic Personnel.	No action required. If you have eligibility concerns, contact Academic Personnel.
Staff	Staff automatically receive an account when they are hired.	No action required. Staff accounts are created in coordination with Human Resources.	17 days after leaving employment Office 365 account, which includes Cal Poly email access, expires 90 days after leaving employment My Cal Poly Portal access expires	No action required. If you have eligibility concerns, contact Human Resources.
Emeritus			Does not expire.	No action required. See the Emeritus Technology Support and Services for additional information.
University Guests/Affiliates	Guests or affiliates of Cal Poly who require access to some university resources must request an account and get it approved by their sponsoring organization/department.	Submit a New Guest Account Request.	Guest accounts expire after 1 year.	No action required. A department sponsor may submit an Account Extension Request to renew guest status.
Departments, Units, or Services	Shared accounts are created upon request.	Submit a New Shared Account Request.	Shared accounts do not expire.	Passwords expire annually and can be reset using the Cal Poly Password Manager. The account owner (administrative or technical contact) can also request a password reset by calling the ITS Service Desk at 805-756-7000.
Student Clubs	Student clubs can set up an account once they have completed all the requirements to become a recognized student organization.	If you are creating a new club, go to Start a Club, and follow the instructions. Once your club is formalized, you can work with the Clubs & Organizations Office to request an account. You can find more info at clubs.calpoly.edu. NOTE: Only the club president can request password changes. Unlike other accounts, there is only one admin contact (instead of one admin and one technical contact).

Making Changes or Extending Accounts

Account extensions require approval from a sponsoring campus organization.

If you need to:

Modify a Cal Poly account, like an account contact update or application access for a shared account, and submit an Other Account Modification Request. You can also use this type of request to deactivate an account.
Extend or reactivate a Cal Poly account, submit an Account Extension Request. Account extensions require approval from a sponsoring campus organization.
Extend your Microsoft 365 account, which includes email and calendar, and submit an Other Account Modification Request.