The ITS Solution Center assists students, faculty and staff with all basic personal computer issues free of charge. The ITS Help Staff is able to help students with connection issues, virus infections and other general computing questions on their personal computing devices.
To change your password, please click here to visit our IDM password reset site. This will change your password for all Concordia connected accounts.
If you are a retiree with a legacy account, instead sign in to Cobbernet and follow the instructions on our password change form.
As of summer 2022, all students and alumni should have claimed their account through our new password management system. If you have not completed this process, you may do so here.
If you do not know your password or have lost access to your account, please contact our office.
Yes. Concordia has wireless access points in all academic and residence halls. Connection strengths may vary. Wired connections are also available within the residence halls. Depending on the dorm room, either one or two Ethernet cords are supplied by Residence Life. Ethernet connections offer a faster and more reliable connection ideal for streaming video and gaming.
If students are encountering WiFi or internet issues, contact ITS as soon as possible. ITS relies on student reports to find and resolve network issues.
Personal wireless routers are not allowed on campus for the sake of network security. For more questions about personal internet devices, please contact ITS.
The ITS Solution Center assists students with all basic personal computer issues, including virus removal, and the diagnosis of hardware issues free of charge. The Solution Center does not provide hardware repair or full operating system installations, but can recommend hardware repair shops in the area.
Policy regarding the use of personal technology devices during class periods, lectures, and labs are determined by each faculty member. For specific information regarding technology use, please contact faculty.
Desktop: Provides great functionality; however, they lack portability. Typically, desktops are the most powerful systems for the lowest price. However, not all desktop computers come with webcams or microphones, so students should make certain their device has these features in order to fully succeed in any given class.
Laptop: The computer of choice for the vast majority of students because most laptops are portable but powerful enough to do most tasks. Most come with a built in webcam and microphone, but students should still check to make sure.
Peer-to-peer connections (Bittorrent, LimeWire, etc.) are blocked on all campus Internet connections.
Choose between a PC or Mac based on your own comfort level and needs. Academic departments may have specific hardware and software recommendations. For example, the music and art programs primarily use Macs, while the Offutt School of Business relies heavily on PCs. The education department uses either platform and most other programs do not have a preference. However, if a student is familiar with a specific operating system and would prefer to stick with it, that is not a problem. Both Macs and PCs are available in computer labs across campus, so no matter what type of computer you have the other is available somewhere on campus.
Regardless of your choice, we recommend the following minimum computer specifications to find success in a college environment:
Students are provided with 1TB (one terabyte) of cloud storage through Microsoft OneDrive with their Concordia email. Additionally, students are provided a Google Education Account through Concordia with unlimited Google Drive storage.
The Papercut system allows students to print directly from their computer to lab printers. Free grayscale is available in many places on campus including all residence halls. Paid color printing is available in the library and the Parke Student Leadership Center. To obtain Papercut printing instructions, visit our CobberNet site or contact us at 218.299.3375. Alternatively, students are allowed to bring their own printer to campus, but it cannot have wireless functionality enabled.
Concordia strongly recommends that all computers have an anti-virus program installed on them. If you have a Windows device, Windows Defender is already installed and protecting you as long as you do not have any other antivirus program installed. However, many other antivirus programs offer better protection than Windows Defender. Any paid program will work; however, there are also free alternatives such as AVG or Avast that do a good job as well and work on both Windows and Apple devices.
Depending on your needs, a tablet may or may not be enough. Many now have full keyboards as an option, and so they can be adequate for writing papers, etc. However, many tablets cannot use our printing software or any special software that may be needed for certain classes. Some tablets, however, have the full version of Windows on them which are essentially a full laptop in tablet form (such as the Surface Pro). For more details on tablets, or what tablets have the full edition of Windows, feel free to contact the Solution Center.
Chromebooks can be an appealing alternative to traditional laptop computers, but come with some limitations. You will not be able to install programs on a Chromebook, only those provided by the Chrome Web Store. Special software that is used by various departments and is available to students (such as Mathematica and JMP) will not be able to be installed on Chromebooks, so Chromebooks are not recommended for some majors including, but not limited to, mathematics, computer science, art, chemistry, biology, and physics. All necessary software is installed on campus computers; however, so students can get by with a Chromebook, it just may not be ideal for their needs. Chromebooks are decent cheap alternatives to both Windows and Mac computers as long as their limitations are kept in mind.
All Concordia students receive a subscription to Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus which includes Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and additional programs. Any other specific program (aside from online textbook services) required for the completion of a class is provided for students upon request.
Aside from what we offer, there are many other discounted or free programs that can be found online by searching “student software discounts” or "student discounts" along with the software or computer brand you are looking for in any search engine. One useful example is Amazon Prime: Student, where a valid .edu email address will allow you to gain all the benefits of a prime account (like prime video, twitch prime, and 2-day-shipping) for a reduced price.
No, but it is strongly recommended. Having a personal computer on campus is much more convenient for most students. However, Concordia does have computers that are widely accessible to all students. There are computer labs in each residence hall, as well as numerous publicly accessible computers in the library. Many academic buildings also have labs, but those may have some time constraints due to classes that are taught in them.