Northern Illinois University
Division of Information Technology

Change Your Password

Passwords Must:

• be at least 10 characters and no more than 128 characters long;
• not include any part of your name or AccountID; and
• must contain characters from three of the following five categories:
  • Uppercase characters of European languages (A through Z, with diacritic marks, Greek and Cyrillic characters
  • Lowercase characters of European languages (a through z, sharp-s, with diacritic marks, Greek and Cyrillic characters
  • Base 10 digits (0 through 9)
  • Nonalphanumeric characters: ~!@#$%^&*_-+=`|\(){}[]:;"'<>,.?/
  • Any Unicode character that is categorized as an alphabetic character but is not uppercase or lowercase. This includes Unicode characters from Asian languages.

Configure Your Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR)

Applicants, students and currently employed faculty and staff are licensed to use the Self-Service Password Reset feature. 

• O365 Users (o365.niu.edu): If you read your email on a web browser, then you'll see a new message after logging in the first time.
  • When prompted, enter your cell phone number and alternate, non-NIU email address.
  • Then click to Verify each method or you'll be asked for the information again the next time you login.
  • If you find your NIU email address already populated, click Verify to change it to a non-NIU email address.
• Outlook Client Users: You cannot add your alternate contact methods in the Outlook client itself. Please login at o365.niu.edu and follow the instructions above.

If you have failed to enter and verify your alternate contact information and you've forgotten your password, you must visit the Technology Support Desk in Founders Library. They will reset your password, but then ensure that you enter your contact information and properly configure Self-Service Password Reset so that you don't need to call again.

Update Your MyNIU Contact Information

Adding your SSPR contact information does not change anything in MyNIU. Please login at MyNIU.niu.edu to change your contact information.

Look Up Your NIU AccountID

All employees, applicants and admitted students are assigned unique and permanent AccountIDs (A-IDs and Z-ID's respectively). Student employees are issued a separate employee AccountID (A-ID) for all work-related duties. 

• Active NIU employees can retrieve their AccountID by searching the NIU Directory (directory.niu.edu).  
• Students (applicants, admitted, or enrolled) must call the IT Service Desk at 815-753-8100 for assistance.