YVC prepares for technology upgrade to improve student services

This May, Yakima Valley College will introduce new, mobile-friendly tools for students to register for classes, communicate with their instructors and advisors, view financial aid awards, and much more.

“Implementing ctcLink is an exciting step for our college community, especially our students,” said Teresa Rich, vice president for administrative services. “It gives students, faculty and staff the ability to conduct all of their college business anywhere, anytime. We’re looking forward to giving students a more user-friendly experience with ctcLink.”

YVC is part of the sixth group of Washington state community and technical colleges switching from technology introduced in the mid-1980s to ctcLink. YVC will activate ctcLink on May 9, and staff across campus will setup and transition to the new system before it is ready for students to begin using on May 19.

Many systems and services will be unavailable while staff work to move thousands of YVC student records to the new ctcLink system. During this time, some offices will be closed and response times to email and phone calls will be longer.

Services impacted include: 

  • Financial Aid: From May 9 – 20, YVC’s Financial Aid office will be closed for in-person service, calls and emails. Financial aid and scholarship disbursements will not occur between April 22 and May 20. Financial aid applications will begin processing again on May 23.
  • Cashiers Office: Starting at 3:30 p.m. on April 22 and running through May 20, YVC’s Cashiers Office will be closed for in-person service and unable to accept payments in person, via phone or online with a credit card.
  • Enrollment Services: From May 9 – 20, Enrollment Services will be closed for in-person and online services including admissions and registration. From 5 p.m. May 4 until May 23, YVC’s online application will be closed but prospective students can submit their contact information for notification when the online application reopens. Students should expect longer than usual response times to emails and phone calls.
  • Placement/Testing: From May 9 – 20, placement and testing services will be closed for in-person and online services.
  • Advising: Advising will still be available from May 9 – 20 but some advising functions may not be processed until after May 20.

Other college offices that will be closed or have limited hours from May 9 to 20 to focus on the transition include Business Offices, Human Resource Services and Payroll.

Registration for Summer Quarter will begin using ctcLink on May 31 and registration for Fall Quarter will begin on June 1 for current students.

Students will receive instructions about how to access ctcLink and activate their accounts on May 12. More information about ctcLink is available online.

During the implementation of ctcLink, student coursework in Canvas will not be interrupted. Students also will continue to have access to email and Office365 as well as library systems.

Press Release Contacts:
Dustin Wunderlich / 509.574.6870 / dwunderlich@yvcc.edu
Stefanie Menard / 509.574.4646 / smenard@yvcc.edu