I am currently a first-year student at my local community college. I recall that when I applied for admission there, I was asked my preferred name, but since that wasn't an issue for me at the time, I just gave them my legal name again. Now that I have been using my new name for a few months, I finally had the courage to go into the administration office and ask the person at the records desk how I could have my preferred name changed on my records. I started by asking "what can you tell me about the preferred name policy here?". The person at the desk looked a little confused and told me "We don't really have a preferred name policy". They were very nice and seemed like they genuinely wanted to help me, but ultimately I was told that although I might try contacting the Chancellor's office (which only deals with applications, so they would tell me to ask the records department at my college), the records department can't change my name in their computer without a court order. Has anyone had this experience? I don't want to give up just yet, but I don't really know where to go from here.
I had the same experience. I couldn't change my name at Uni without the final court order. (Tried showing them something from my therapist and endo and it didn't work either.) Once I had the order they changed the name in literally one minute. Seeing that I'm from a different country, it could be different for you and maybe someone else has any ideas. Over here there don't seem to be any fixed laws. Either the university is friendly enough to change it without any official papers or they don't. Sometimes it seems to come down to the person sitting behind the counter.
While I can't say I've seen schools that are flexible with preferred names (usually they do require you to get a legal name change in court in order for that stuff to be on your I.D.) I have found that asking people like RAs and teachers to call you by another name usually works pretty well, they just put that down on the attendance sheet instead.
Usually they have to go by legal name only. There are a few schools that do have a preferred name policy, but they are few and far between right now. Your best bet is going to be to email professors before the start of classes and explain that you go by a different name and pronouns. It's annoying, but at least it is a workaround.
I found out from a counselor that because the preferred name policy is fairly new and still being perfected, I can have my preferred name changed, but they don't have a form for it or anything yet. I have to email the director of Admissions and Records and ask them to change it in the computer.
What do you do if you've been to community colleges before and the next one you go to is the one where you want them to use the name you identify with, not the legal name you were given at birth? Because you didn't figure out you were trans until later in life/after 'college age'/after you started taking college classes?
I don't think there's a lot you can do as far as changing your name across all school systems. But you can do what I did and email all your professors and let them know what's up so they can use your preferred name in class. And keep talking to admissions/registration, especially if you're about to graduate. If you're out and living full time and you're known on campus under your real name as opposed to your birth name, I really don't see why they can't use your real/preferred name when you graduate or so on.
