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HOW DO I CHANGE MY PASSWORD?

Before changing your password

• See Choosing Your Penn State Account Password to learn about Penn State’s Lifetime Password requirements and find tips and examples.

To change your password

• If you know your current password, you can change it by visiting the Password Change page at accounts.psu.edu. If you’ve forgotten your password, go to Forgot Your Password?  instead.

IMPORTANT!  After you change your password

• If you have a University-owned laptop or desktop that you log in to with your Penn State Account user ID and password, follow the instructions in knowledge article Sync My Penn State Computer Password to My New Penn State Account Password.
• Otherwise, see After You Change Your Penn State Account Password to learn about additional steps you may need to take.

WHY THE CHANGE TO LIFETIME PASSWORDS?

Prior to 2021

Your password expired once a year, forcing you to come up with – and remember – yet another password. Regular password changes were thought to reduce the chances that someone would obtain unauthorized access to your account.

Times have changed!

Security experts now recommend eliminating requirements like regular password changes and the use of upper and lower-case letters and special characters. Instead, best practices call for longer “passphrases” that are difficult to crack because they’re meaningful only to the individual user. To learn more about this new type of password, and find tips for choosing one, see Choosing Your Penn State Account Password.