VCC student account updates: Important information

Updated April 12, 2021

During the weekend of April 9 - 11, Vancouver Community College (VCC) performed an important update to student online accounts. This update affects all student passwords and any files stored in the Office 365 environment.

What you need to know

Office 365 outage

From April 9 - 11, students will have no access to Office 365 online products including but not limited to Outlook, Sharepoint, MS Teams, and MS Office.  

SharePoint access

As a result of a technical limitation, SharePoint access previously provided to students by instructors could not be maintained, and will need to be set up again. This is a one-time action required to reconnect student accounts.

Address Book

Due to privacy updates, students will now see a blank Address Book in Office 365. As a result, students will not be able to use the chat function with other students in MS Teams.

Student password change

Passwords provide the first line of defence against unauthorized access to your computer and personal information. The stronger your password, the more protected your data will be from hackers and malicious software. Complex passwords have now been implemented for VCC students to be aligned with all VCC users. 

What is my password after April 9?  

Students will log in with a temporary password initially. The new, temporary password incorporates your existing Banner PIN and starts with ‘VCC’ and ends with ‘#’.

• Temporary password format: VCC[student’s Banner PIN from April 8]#
• Example: VCC012345# 

After initial login, students will be prompted to change their temporary password to include the following: 

• Password length of minimum 10 characters 
• Must contain upper and lower case letters
• Must include at least one number
• Must include a special character (i.e.  ! # $ % …) 
• Must not contain account holder's first or last name 
• Must not be one of the passwords previously used 

For detailed guidance, watch our Student Password Video Tutorial.

Going forward, use this updated password to log in to myVCC and Banner.

Where are my files? / How to retrieve files

Any files stored in Outlook or OneDrive were not included in the update and must be retrieved within 30 days (starting April 9). Please see appropriate guides for file retrieval instructions: 

• Moving Outlook Files [PDF]
• Moving OneDrive Files [PDF]

Thank you for your patience during this important upgrade to VCC systems. For questions or assistance, the VCC Help Desk can be reached by calling 604.443.8700 or emailing helpme@vcc.ca.