This question-and-answer list doesn't answer all the questions that people often have about expired accounts, but here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.
Please direct unanswered questions and problems to us at accounts@student.cs.uwaterloo.ca.
Q: Why is my account going away?
A: Accounts exist because they have a sponsor. The Dean sponsors basic accounts for students in the faculty, individual instructors sponsor accounts for their courses (which will temporarily give accounts to students from outside the faculty), and researchers sponsor accounts for themselves and their assistants. When an account no longer has a sponsor, it expires, and this message is sent to the account warning that it has entered a period of grace during which the owner may do cleanup, such as copying valuable files to somewhere else.
Q: What about my disk quota?
A: Now that your account is no longer sponsored it will remain for a short grace period (60 days). During this time you should take copies of whatever files you may need.
Q: I'm on a co-op work term. Isn't my account supposed to stay around until I return?
A: Yes it should. Note that if you are on a work term that lasts for more than 8 months, we are not automatically told about this, so your co-op advisor will have to send a confirmation to accounts@cscf.cs.uwaterloo.ca.
Q: I am a grad student. Isn't my student account supposed to stay around?
A: For grad students, this account on student.cs is to be used for specific course work only. If you haven't registered for such courses, your account will go away. On the other hand, you should have an account for your grad studies on the research machines. Check with the CSCF Help Desk (cscfhelp@uwaterloo.ca) or your Point of Contact to get your password set.
Q: I'm already a registered student, so why is this happening to me?
A: The expiry will automatically be canceled if you register for appropriate courses or programs before the account is disabled.
Q: But I just said that I am a registered student.
A: Registration applies only to the current term. For instance even if you are pre-registered in a course for the Winter term, your account will still be considered expired until the end of the Fall term. At the start of the Winter term your account will no longer be considered expired. Note that there is often a delay of several days between when you register for a course and when we receive the information. If this is the case, and the need is urgent, you may bring your forms to us in person and we will update your account's status.
Q: How do I determine if the courses I'm enrolled in entitle me to an account?
A: Check the page for the current term at the top of https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/cscf/cscfnow/FullClassInfo?C=N;O=D.
Q: How do I keep my account if I'm not registered in appropriate courses this term?
A: We regret that we can provide only those accounts requested by a sponsor within the faculty: course instructors and researchers. Your account must have a faculty member sponsoring it.
Q: Can I sponsor an account myself?
A: CSCF does not have the means to sell computing resources. Neither can other departments such as IST and the Office of Alumni Affairs. However, the Computer Science Club (MC 3037) provides free accounts to its members, who may be current or previous students in any faculty. See them for more information. And the Office of Alumni Affairs provides a permanent email forwarding service for graduates. There are also many commercial vendors of network access and computing resources.
Q: I know it's going away. Why do you have to keep telling me about it?
A: The repeated warnings are sent to make sure people really know that their accounts are going to be deleted. If you are certain you no longer need your account, let us know and we'll remove the account immediately.