Frequently Asked Password Questions & Answers for Faculty and Staff
Frequently Asked Password Questions & Answers for Students
What is a non-alphanumeric character? How do I type one of these characters?
What is a Unicode character? How do I type one of these characters?
Frequently Asked Password Questions & Answers for Faculty and Staff
What should I enter as my user ID?
Your network login, which is usually in lastname.firstname format.
I forgot the answer to my security question. Is it possible for me to reset this?
Please contact the technical support desk at (727) 791-2795. The technical support representatives have the ability to verify the information on file and reset your security question.
Does my password expire? When will my password expire?
Passwords for faculty and staff accounts expire. Please contact technical support at (727) 791-2795 to find out when your password will expire, as the password expiration date is relative to when the password was set or last changed.
What requirements does my password need to meet?
For security reasons, passwords must meet certain guidelines to ensure the password is not easily guessed or 'cracked' by persons who do not have authorized access to your account.
All faculty and staff passwords must meet a total of eight (8) characters, and contain three (3) of these following complexity requirements:
- English uppercase letter (A-Z).
- English lowercase letter (a-z).
- Numeral (0-9).
- Non-alphanumeric character ( ! @ # $ %) What is a non-alphanumeric character? How do I type one of these characters?
- Unicode (special) character ( ¥ © Â £ ) What is a Unicode character? How do I type one of these characters?
- Once you've set a password, you cannot use this password for the next 4 password changes.
- Your password cannot contain sensitive information such as your name, or other information we have on your file such as date of birth or social security number.
Frequently Asked Password Questions & Answers for Students
What should I enter as my user ID?
Your student ID number, which is usually five, six or seven digits long.
I forgot the answer to my security question. Is it possible for me to reset this?
Please contact the technical support desk at (727) 791-2795. The technical support representatives have the ability to verify the information on file and reset your security question.
Does my password expire? When will my password expire?
Passwords for student accounts never expire.
What requirements does my password need to meet?
For security reasons, passwords must meet certain guidelines to ensure the password is not easily guessed or 'cracked' by persons who do not have authorized access to your account.
All student passwords must meet a total of eight (8) characters.
It is suggested to implement some of these elements to create a complex, difficult to guess password:
- A combination of English uppercase letter (A-Z) and English lowercase letters (a-z).
- Numerals (0-9).
- Non-alphanumeric character ( ! @ # $ %) What is a non-alphanumeric character? How do I type one of these characters?
- Unicode (special) character ( ¥ © Â £ ) What is a Unicode character? How do I type one of these characters?
- Once you've set a password, you cannot use this password for the next 4 password changes.
- Your password cannot contain sensitive information such as your name, or other information we have on your file such as date of birth or social security number.
- Your password cannot be the same as your student ID number.
- Your password cannot be set to "password".
What is a non-alphanumeric character? How do I type one of these characters?
Non-alphanumeric characters are basically any symbol which is not a letter or number. So, extra symbols such as @, #, $, % are considered non-alphanumeric characters. This type of character makes a password more difficult to guess, and even helps foil computer programs specifically created to 'crack' passwords.
You can create a non-alphanumeric character by using the SHIFT key on your keyboard and pressing one of the numbers on the number row at the same time. The number row is highlighted in white on this graphic:

What is a Unicode character? How do I type one of these characters?
Generally, Unicode characters are characters and symbols which are typically not found on a variety of US keyboard formats ( ¥ © Â £ ). It is not recommended to use one of these characters, unless the user has a fair amount of experience with entering in unicode characters.
These characters are typically entered in by pressing the 'alt' key plus a four digit combination of numbers.
For example, á can be entered in on a US keyboard by pressing 'alt', and on the keypad portion of the keyboard, '0225' at the same time.