Student Name Change at Tacoma Community College

If you need to change your name for any reason, please follow these instructions below to have your name changed while you are here at TCC.  TCC values and honors diverse experiences and perspectives and strives to create a welcoming and respectful learning environment to promote equity and inclusion for all. Referring to students by their correct name classes and when interacting with college personnel supports a respectful learning environment.

Please note that preferred names may not be used for purposes of fraud or misrepresentation. TCC reserves the right to remove a preferred name if it contains inappropriate or offensive language.

ctcLink

Once a student submits an application, you lose access in ctcLink to edit the primary name field, which is what displays on the Transcript and the Enrollment screen.  Instead, you can go into the ctcLink Student Center and add the name you go by (ctcLink calls this the "Preferred" Name). The ctcLink Preferred Name takes priority on the ctcLink Class Roster, Grade Roster, and Student Center and, eventually, the student's TCC email. 

Please note that when you have completed the Primary-to-Preferred Name Change below, in order to change your student ID card, you need to go to the Campus Public Safety Office in Building 14, and request a new card.  Your name will be pulled up when they search by your student ctcLink ID number and a new card can be issued.

What name do you go by?  How to make the change in ctcLink

• Log into ctcLink either through the TCC Portal and click on the ctcLink quick link icon, or go directly to ctcLink
• Go to your Student Homepage > Profile > Names > Add a New Name (this will be the one you use) > SAVE the changes
• When you are finished and have saved the new name, at the list of names select the EDIT button on the new name, and mark the new name to be “Preferred.
• Within 24 hours after the Preferred Name is set in ctcLink, the Portal username will be changed, the campus email address will be changed, and the name that appears in the Portal will be the ctcLink Preferred Name.

Canvas

The name handling from ctcLink to Canvas integration was updated in November 2017 to put the legal ctcLink name into the Canvas Full Name (and, by default, the Sortable Name).  The Full Name is what the professor sees in the Canvas Gradebook. The ctcLink Preferred Name is set as the Canvas Display Name, which is what other students and the professor see, for example, when a student makes a post to a discussion forum.  You may request a Canvas name change using one of the two methods below.

1. Email your request to create a ticket in the Help Desk system, with the subject line “Canvas Student Name Change” and include the following information in the body of the email:

   1. Old Name

   2. New Name

   3. Student ctcLink ID number

   4. Personal email or telephone number in case we need to contact you.

2. Or, call the Student Help Desk at 253-566-5197, and ask to have your name in Canvas changed. When speaking to a Canvas Administrator, give them the following information:

   1. Old Name

   2. New Name

   3. Student ctcLink ID number

Email/O365

Once the data changes in ctcLink per the instructions below, it will take approximately 24 hours for the data to be transfered to O365.