Cisco Network Academy - Switching from Student to Alumni

For those of us fortunate enough to take the Cisco Network Academy courses (Exploration being better than Discovery, in my opinion), we have an opportunity to switch our account over to Alumni status. This can only happen once we've completed the student courses successfully and the instructor has marked the Network Academy grade book with a passing grade.

This switch can sometimes be an elusive task unless you know wheat you're looking for. For instance, the T.A. at my local brick and mortar community college missed out on the Alumni account opportunity. The Alumni account option eventually expires post course completion.

The Alumni home page looks exactly like the student home page, but it has different options. You loose the option to view the student page once your Network Academy class is completed. The Alumni home page allows access to course materials, the Alumni forums,  career tools,and more.

The Alumni Network Academy home page. © Cisco Systems

Here's the info from Cisco about the Alumni benefits:

Alumni Enrollment Is a Valuable Benefit Starting back to school and finishing a school term are perfect opportunities to get registered as alumni with Cisco Networking Academy. We can show you how. Why should I register as an alumni member? Students who do not register as alumni will lose their access to Academy Connection soon after they leave the classroom if they do not enroll in a subsequent class. That means you’ll no longer be able to access the Course Materials to study for certification or re-certification. If certification is one of your career goals, you’ll want to maintain curriculum access as a valuable resource for your exam preparation. Alumni privileges include access to Course Materials (for courses you passed). Even if you’re still in class, you’ll want access to benefits available only to registered alumni. Along with continued curriculum access, there are a number of other benefits available to you as a registered member of the Alumni Community including: Headlines and updates regarding curriculum and competitions Peer support through Alumni Community forums and chats Access to the CCNA Certification Prep Center on Cisco Learning Network Access to career development tools and resources through the Career Connection job board at cc.netacad.net Opt in to the U.S. Alumni Newsletter (U.S. students only) Discounts on products and services Eligible students and grads will see the Alumni Home link on their Student home page. Register now to secure your access as an alumni member. Click here to watch a brief video about the alumni registration process. For more information, send an e-mail to academy-alumni@external.cisco.com. [PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]

So, how do you change over to Alumni once your class is done? Here's how:

1.  Navigate over to the Cisco Network Academy and log in.
2.  Verify minimum age requirements
3.  agree to the terms
4. Update your profile (required)
5. You'll then be able to edit your information and enable "Opt-ins"
6. lastly click register on the "Opt-ins" page to be given 99 years of Aceademy Alumni access. Awesome.
7. You'll eventually receive an Email letting you know you'r registered as an Alumni. That's it.

Hopefully this will be helpful for someone to be able to utilize the Academy Alumni resources in the future.