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There will be multiple opportunities to exchange your ID card over several weeks. If you know you will be out of town or unable to make it to campus during the entire distribution period, please email it-help@cmu.edu, noting your date of return to campus. After the distribution period, you’ll receive an email with instructions for exchanging your ID card upon your return. Your current ID card will continue to work in the meantime.

You’ll just need to exchange your current ID card the next time you are in Pittsburgh. Email it-help@cmu.edu in advance to make arrangements to exchange your card at the Computing Services Help Center while you are in town.

No. Computing Services is overseeing the new ID card distribution, which will take place in phases at designated times and locations across campus. Your new ID card will be pre-printed and ready for pickup at those designated locations, and no ID cards will be available at the Computing Services Help Center. Please follow the instructions you receive via email for when and where to exchange your old ID card for your new one.

No. To ensure a fast and efficient process for the entire community, existing ID card photos will be used. New employees and students will continue to submit photos during onboarding.

Current faculty and staff names were pulled from Workday on Monday, April 27, 2026, and returning undergraduate and graduate student names will be pulled from SIO on Monday, May 18, so new ID cards will reflect the preferred first and last name on record as of those dates.

Community members with dual roles will exchange their ID cards with the group that reflects their primary affiliation: employees taking classes will be part of the employee distribution period in June/July, and student workers will be part of the student distribution period in August. Your ID card will reflect your primary affiliation.

Yes, your new card will continue to support:

• Building and residential access
• Meal plans
• Printing and copying
• Parking
• Library services
• Plaid Cash

Two services are no longer available due to changes by external providers:

• Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) now uses the Ready2Ride mobile app.
• PNC is discontinuing the program that enables students to link CMU ID cards to bank accounts in June.

Your current ID card will help us verify your identity. Also, turning in your current card ensures there are no duplicate ID cards in the community, which could be used by individuals to gain unauthorized access to buildings or obtain benefits and services for which they are not eligible.

If you have lost your current ID card, you must first go to the Help Center in Cyert Hall 119 to pay the $30 lost card fee. If you exchange your card at a Cyert session, you can pay the fee and complete the exchange in one visit. For a CUC session, you must first pay the fee at Cyert and bring the receipt with you to the CUC.

A government-issued photo ID, like a driver’s license or passport, must be presented to confirm your identity.

Yes, you should immediately have access to all of the same buildings and residential communities with your new card as your current card. If you don’t, stop by or contact the Computing Services Help Center.

As long as you turn in your current ID card, there is no fee to receive your new card. However, if you do not turn in your current ID card, the usual $30 lost card fee will apply and can be paid at the distribution site via credit card (no cash).

During the phased rollout, both current and new ID cards will work equally. At the end of the rollout in September, only new cards will work.

There will be card readers at the distribution sites to test your new ID card before you leave with it. If you have any problems with your new card after pickup, stop by or contact the Computing Services Help Center.

The new cards feature a clean, simple design that is easier to read, and they include near field communication (NFC) technology, which means the card doesn’t have to physically touch the reader to work, it just needs to be in close proximity. This benefits individuals with limited mobility or motor skills, as well as the visually impaired.

No. PRT is transitioning to a mobile ticketing system in which physical college ID cards will no longer be accepted on its vehicles. CMU transitioned to the PRT Ready2Ride mobile app earlier this spring; if you have not yet downloaded the PRT app and set up your CMU account to receive free monthly passes, please do so.

While CMU does plan to offer digital IDs in the future, we are not at that point yet. This upgrade is an important step toward enabling those capabilities.