Short Term Access Account

A Short Term Access Account (STAA) is a Penn State Access Account with a short lifetime (less than 45 days). Typical uses for a Short Term Access Account include:

• Outreach students taking a certificate course.
• Visiting faculty or corporate entities participating in a conference.

If accounts are needed for a longer duration, then potential account holders should apply for an Access Account.

Short Term Access Accounts provide either for authentication only (slim) or full access (full):

• Authentication Only (Slim STAA): This account provides the account holder with authentication service only. Users of this type of account can login/authenticate to Penn State services. The cost for this type of account is $3.00/month.
• Full Access (Full STAA): This account is a full Access Account with authentication, e-mail, PASS, Web Space (optional) and an LDAP Entry. Users of this type of account can use a variety of Penn State services. The cost for this type of account is $8.00/month.

Short Term Access Accounts are created in pools. To obtain a pool of accounts, you must be a full-time Penn State faculty/staff member. An ITS Charge Account must be established for billing purposes. Please refer to for fee services cost page for fees.You will be billed only for the accounts you use.

All applicants requesting for fee or billable services from ITS or requests funded by a departmental fund, a contract, or a grant must have an ITS Charge Account set up through ITS in order for the charges to be billed. Applicants with currently existing ITS Charge Accounts can request additional services be added to that account by using the ITS For-Fee Services Request Form. Applications should be sent in duplicate to the appropriate administrative office and to the ITS Computer Accounts Services Office, Room 101 Computer Building. This account will expire on the termination date specified though accounts paid through general funds must be reauthorized each fiscal year. All computer use on this account will be billed directly on a monthly basis in accordance with procedure #CR2069 dated 08/04/1993. When the dollar amount listed on the ITS For Fee Services Request Form has been exceeded by the account, a notice will be sent to the account supervisor asking for additional funds or if the account should be terminated.

To request pools of STAAs, faculty or staff must fill out the ITS For Fee Services Request Form and choose the "STAA" option, specify Full or Slim and provide the necessary departmental information as noted on the form.

Once a Short Term Access Account pool is created, the pool can be managed by visiting one of two Web sites:

• STAA Admininistrators' Web Site: From this Web site, supervisors of pools of accounts can designate administrators for the pool. This will enable faculty, IT Managers and other full-time employees to distribute the accounts when they are needed.
• STAA Web Site: From this Web site, STAA administrators can manage their pool of accounts. The major operation he/she can do is hand out accounts to users. For each account given out, you must collect from the user, his/her name, an ID number from a photo ID and specify the duration of the account. You must check a photo ID, before you can hand out an Short Term Access Account. Each account will be assigned a unique random password. Please also note that you will be billed only for the accounts you use.

NOTE: STAA supervisors must be full-time Penn State employees (inclusive of standing and fixed-term I positions, faculty members, and instructors). STAA administrators must be Penn State employees, (inclusive of faculty members, instructors, and part-time/wage payroll employees). supervisors and administrators must be full-time Penn State employees

For more information about these accounts, please review the Short Term Access Account overview document.