Update Your Legal Information
In order to track and properly maintain your records across federal, state and higher education systems, we rely on the accuracy of your legal information.
If you find out that your student record has the wrong citizenship, date of birth, legal name, legal sex or Social Security number (or taxpayer identification number) information, follow the instructions below to correct your record.
Citizenship
Campus officials primarily use this information in aggregate to make informed, data-driven decisions related to strategic resources and student support.
To view public reports related to campus diversity, see the Office of Data Analytics' Diversity page.
To update your citizenship information:
Date of Birth
CU Â鶹ӰԺ business offices use your date of birth to help process your financial aid, tuition statements for tax purposes, student employment, College Opportunity Fund (COF) stipend and Selective Service verification, among other things.
Your date of birth appears in whole or in part (i.e., no year is provided) on some official records and accounts, including but not limited to:
- Official academic transcripts
- Billing and financial aid records and communications
- Insurance records (Health & Wellness Services)
- Housing contracts
- Military and veterans services
To update your date of birth:
Ethnicity
In select forms and applications, U.S. citizens are prompted to identify their ethnicity for federal and state reporting purposes.
Campus officials primarily use this information in aggregate to make informed, data-driven decisions related to strategic resources and student support.
To view public reports related to campus diversity, see the Office of Data Analytics' Diversity page.
To update your ethnicity:
Legal Name
Your legal name, also referred to as your primary name, is required for select business processes, including federal and state reporting, administering financial aid and processing international student statuses.
This name appears on all official records and accounts, including but not limited to:
- Mailings to your home address, including third-party communications
- Official academic transcripts
- Enrollment and degree verifications
- Billing and financial aid records and communications
- Insurance records (Health & Wellness Services)
- Housing contracts
- Buff OneCard
- Military and veterans services
- Passport names for international students
- Most student screens in Campus Solutions (CU-SIS)
Most CU Â鶹ӰԺ Systems & Records
To update your legal name:
Additional Systems & Records
The following university systems and records require additional steps to update your primary name.
- IdentiKey username/CU login name: Contact the to request a change to the letters in your username. See also OIT's .
- Email
- Display Name: To change the name displayed in the "from" line of email messages, see OIT's page.
- Alias: To request an update to your email alias (the part of your email address before @), contact OIT at help@colorado.edu or 303-735-HELP.
- Campus Directory (online student lookup): The campus directory publishes the display name from the Identity Management system; see .
- Buff OneCard: All Buff OneCards are issued with your primary name. If you've submitted a primary name change, you may bring your current card to the Buff OneCard office and purchase a replacement for $5.
Contact the Office of the Registrar for instructions on updating your primary name for university systems and processes not listed here.
Sex
As of Jan. 30, 2020, in alignment with , CU Â鶹ӰԺ systems include three sex designations: male (M), female (F) and nonbinary (X).
Please note that the U.S. Selective Service System will continue to use sex assigned at birth to determine .
At CU Â鶹ӰԺ, this data is required for select business processes, including federal and state reporting, administering financial aid and processing international student statuses.
Personally identifiable information is secured and accessed only by school officials with a legitimate educational interest who have completed student data privacy training, per university policy and federal law.
To update your sex:
Social Security Number (SSN) or Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)
Your SSN or TIN is required for select business processes, including federal and state reporting, administering financial aid, issuing tuition statements for tax purposes and verifying your Selective Service registration, among other things.
Personally identifiable information is secured and accessed only by school officials with a legitimate educational interest who have completed student data privacy training, per university policy and federal law.
To update your SSN or TIN:
- Download and complete an SSN/TIN update form, then print and sign it.
- Take a clear photograph or scan of your signed form. (Accepted file types: png, jpg, pdf, tif.)
- Next, take a clear photograph or scan of your Social Security card or TIN card.
- Log in to the Office of the Registrar's .
- In the "Comments" field, enter "Adding SSN."
- Open the document type drop-down and select "Change of Person Record."
- Click the "Select Documents for Upload" button, locate the image of your form, and click "Open."
- Confirm that your form uploaded successfully, then upload the image of your Social Security card or TIN card.
- When you're finished, click "Submit."
Do not email anything containing your SSN. Doing so could put you at high risk for identity theft.