Open StudentAid

Read loan balances and per-loan details from supported .studentaid.gov servicers through one Python API.

Supported providers

Provider	Authentication	Data source
nelnet	Username, password, and SMS, email, or authenticator MFA	Nelnet borrower API
edfinancial	Username, password, MFA, and DOB/SSN when the device is not recognized	Edfinancial Account Summary

The public calls are identical for both providers. Set STUDENT_AID_PROVIDER or pass provider= to select an implementation.

Warning

Login and data retrieval require a headed Chromium session because the servicer sites reject ordinary HTTP and headless-browser access. Linux servers can use Xvfb.

Setup

macOS or Linux desktop

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install -r requirements.txt -e .
python -m playwright install chromium

Ubuntu server

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y xvfb
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install -r requirements.txt -e .
python -m playwright install chromium

Windows PowerShell

py -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
python -m pip install -r requirements.txt -e .
python -m playwright install chromium

Configuration

Copy the variable names from .env.example into a local .env. Choose one provider and enter that provider's credentials:

STUDENT_AID_PROVIDER=edfinancial
STUDENT_AID_USERNAME=your_username
STUDENT_AID_PASSWORD=your_password
STUDENT_AID_MFA_METHOD=sms
STUDENT_AID_DOB=MMDDYYYY
STUDENT_AID_SSN=123456789

STUDENT_AID_DOB and STUDENT_AID_SSN are only used by Edfinancial when it does not recognize the browser. Nelnet requires the account username rather than an email address.

Do not commit .env, .osa/, or .studentaid/. They contain credentials or authenticated session material. These paths are excluded by the included .gitignore.

Usage

Complete the first login interactively so MFA and any identity challenge can be answered. The saved session is reused on later calls.

import open_studentaid

open_studentaid.login(provider="edfinancial")

total, count, raw = open_studentaid.loan_summary(provider="edfinancial")
loans = open_studentaid.loan_details(provider="edfinancial")
snapshot = open_studentaid.loan_snapshot(provider="edfinancial")

The same calls work for Nelnet:

from open_studentaid import StudentAid

student_aid = StudentAid(provider="nelnet")
student_aid.login()
print(student_aid.loan_snapshot())

If STUDENT_AID_PROVIDER is set, provider= can be omitted.

Public methods

Method	Description
login()	Complete the selected provider's browser login and save the session.
ensure_login()	Reuse or refresh the saved authentication state.
save_session()	Save the current browser session under .osa/.
loan_snapshot()	Return total balance, loan count, normalized loans, and raw data.
loan_summary()	Return total balance, loan count, and raw provider data.
loan_details()	Return normalized details for each loan.
get_amount()	Return the total amount owed.
get_data()	Return raw provider data.

Methods are available as top-level functions and on StudentAid.

Provider layout

Provider-specific login and borrower-data implementations live in:

open_studentaid/
  nelnet/
    auth.py
    api.py
  edfinancial/
    auth.py
    api.py

The top-level modules provide shared session management and dispatch, so adding a provider does not require changing application calls.

CLI

studentaid --provider edfinancial login
studentaid --provider edfinancial amount
studentaid --provider edfinancial details
studentaid --provider edfinancial summary

Tests

python -m unittest discover -s tests -v

Interactive smoke test:

python tests/smoke_test.py

License

MIT (see LICENSE).

Notice

Open StudentAid is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by StudentAid.gov, Nelnet, Edfinancial, or the U.S. Department of Education. Use it at your own risk and only to access your own data.