OTC accounts and access

This article gives you information on how to set up and access your MyOTC Account. It also gives an overview of the permissions and access granted by different types of accounts - student, staff, alumni, or retiree.

Account Aging & Closure

As a security measure, in order to combat the rise of account hacking and malicious email, we do not keep inactive accounts open for hackers to utilize indiscriminately.

Every student who attends OTC, whether through a regular curriculum course (credited) or through a workforce development class (non-credit), even if that class is just a one-day course, will receive an OTC account and password. Regular students receive this account by applying to OTC and this account is active for as long as the student is an active student. Workforce development students receive this account when they sign up for a workforce class, such as for a technical certification, etc.

Staff or Students: How do I find my username:

We have a secure and simple tool for that here: What's My Username.
You can also go to https://my.otc.edu and click the What's My User Name button.

Employees who are also students:

If you are both a student and an employee at OTC, your student account and your employee account can be used in different ways to access different resources. This can be confusing at times, trying to figure out which account to use to log in to or access which resource. In the article Employee vs Student Accounts, we describe how to access student and employee resources with the appropriate account.

When an account becomes disabled:

This information applies to OTC employees who are leaving employment but not retiring. This applies only to their staff account.

Your account is deactivated within 24 hours of receiving your last paycheck.
Deactivated employee accounts lose access to MyOTC, including any access to Canvas.
- Staff who also have an active student/alumni account should be able to sign in with said active account after the staff account is disabled.
Deactivated employee accounts lose access to Office 365.
Deactivated employee accounts lose access to their staff mailbox.
It is recommended if you have any personal data in email or canvas that you want to retain, download or forward the information elsewhere before your account will be deactivated. Access to deactivated staff accounts will NOT be given upon request.

Please be advised contents of student and staff deletion and are only retained for 90 days after account deactivation. Email is only retained for 30 days at most after deletion and is unrecoverable beyond 30 days. In some circumstances, email/OneDrive content is immediately purged once an account is disabled. There is zero expectation of retaining any user content beyond separation from the College (no longer employed, or no longer enrolled in classes).

Active Students:

Non-alumni student accounts who are not actively enrolled for one year are deactivated. Accounts are alerted prior to deactivation with enough warning to log into the account and move any files or emails that you want to save to another location or email. The only way to regain access to your account is to re-register as a student.

Active Staff:

Your account is deactivated within 24 hours of receiving your last paycheck. If your manager forgets to report your termination date to HR in a timely fashion, your account may be closed immediately upon HR being informed (if that occurs after your last paycheck has been issued). We do NOT give access back to former employees, as this can violate FERPA and HIPPAA by giving non-employee person's access to sensitive student and employee data.

Alumni:

Alumni receive 1 year of access to MyOTC and Email after graduation after which the account will be permanently deactivated. Deactivated accounts will NOT be reactivated, and emails in deactivated accounts are not retained.

See more information on alumni accounts.

Retiree:

Retiree accounts for employees who retired after July 1, 2023 receive 1 year of access to MyOTC and Email after the end of gainful employment. Deactivated accounts will NOT be reactivated, and emails in deactivated accounts are not retained.

Employees who are official Retirees prior to July 1, 2023 may retain their MyOTC and Email access so long as the account is kept in good standing with a login event to https://my.otc.edu or https://outlook.office.com at least once a year.