UNI and Exchange Account

All Columbia University students have a unique identifier, known as a UNI. Your UNI grants access to most web-based services and is needed to complete most transactions with University offices. Newly admitted students will receive their UNI in the Student Admissions Portal.

HIPAA regulations and the CUIMC Information Security Office requires students to use the CUIMC Exchange Email System.

For convenience, students’ UNIs serve as their username to login to both their UNI and Exchange Accounts. Please be advised that these are two separate systems, and your UNI and Exchange passwords will not automatically synchronize when one is changed. 

What Is the Difference Between Your Uni Account and Exchange Account?

• UNI accounts are provided to current Columbia faculty, staff, and students. UNIs are used to access University-wide resources such as Student Services Online. 
  • The Manage My UNI website, where students activated their UNI, contains information and steps on changing the UNI account password. 
• Exchange accounts (@cumc.columbia.edu email accounts) are issued to students on the Medical Center campus and are separate from LionMail used by students not affiliated with CUIMC. They are part of a network managing login to computers, network drives, and the Exchange mail system. (Public Health students may not use LionMail, as it is not HIPAA compliant.)
  • The myPassword website in CUIMC IT’s activation email contains information and steps on changing the Exchange password.  

If students prefer, they can maintain one password for both their UNI and Exchange accounts by visiting each site (Manage My UNI and myPassword) and manually changing their passwords to match.