By Victoria Hansen and Pulse Staff

hansenv@findlay.edu

Every University of Findlay student account comes with a Microsoft 365 A3 license, one of Microsoft’s education licenses that has more features than the Microsoft 365 Personal.

But Microsoft made news recently when it announced that it would be giving away a free year of Microsoft 365 Personal to college students with a valid college ID.

One reason students might consider buying their own Microsoft 365 Personal subscription is for personal security reasons, especially where OneDrive is concerned. Tenant (server) administrators can access student OneDrive accounts, but only in specific cases.

“Administrators do have the ability to access accounts if there is a legitimate need – for example, to comply with legal requests, internal investigations, or policy enforcement. Access requires elevated administrative rights and is typically governed by the University’s IT policies, compliance requirements, and sometimes legal oversight,” Michael Burrier, chief information security officer at UF, in an email.

Both plans have access to the traditional Microsoft Office suite along with Outlook, Teams, Copilot Chat and Clipchamp (video editing).

The A3 license has more features geared toward student use including Sharepoint websites, Microsoft Planner, and shared class OneNote notebooks.

While full Copilot integration is available as an add-on for the A3 license, UF has not opted into it.

“For the University, adding Microsoft 365 Copilot to every account would cost approximately five million dollars per year,” Burrier said.

This year, UF fully switched to Microsoft products, transitioning from apps such as Zoom to Microsoft Teams.

“I know everyone is still getting used to Teams after our recent move away from Zoom, but I think Teams is a strong communication tool, and many of its features beyond video meetings often go underutilized,” Burrier wrote. “In the ITS department, I’d estimate that 90% of our communication happens through Teams chat. Since IT on campus operates 24/7, the ability to reach anyone at any time through the Teams mobile app has really improve response times.”

Along with new requirements, UF highly recommends one more Microsoft product: Microsoft Authenticator. The school requires the use of multifactor authentication (MFA) to log in to UF email accounts to stay compliant with student security laws as well as insurance obligations. However, while Microsoft Authenticator is suggested, it is not required.

“The first and most secure option is the Microsoft Authenticator app. The second option is to use another OTP (one-time password) app such as Google Authenticator, Authy, or LastPass Authenticator. As a third option, the Help Desk can issue an OTP hardware token, at the student’s expense, for those who cannot use a mobile app,” Burrier wrote.

Burrier says that while SMS texts and voice calls are still valid forms of MFA, they are discouraged and Microsoft has announced that they will be discontinuing them at a future date.

If students do opt to sign up for Microsoft 365 Personal, after the free year is up, students will be charged $4.99 a month, 50% off the normal price.