specification: API Commons Plans
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/Plans
provider: Federal Student Aid
providerId: federal-student-aid
created: '2026-05-04'
generated: '2026-09-09'
method: searched
source: https://api.data.gov/signup/
docs:
  - https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/api-documentation/
  - https://api.data.gov/docs/developer-manual/
modified: '2026-09-09'
tags:
  - Education
  - Federal Government
  - Financial Aid
  - Higher Education
description: >-
  Plans and pricing for the College Scorecard API, the one publicly callable
  surface on this Federal Student Aid record. Replaces the 2026-05-04 scaffold,
  which invented a "Free" tier with a 1,000-requests-per-month quota that the
  Department has never published. There are no plans: the API is a free U.S.
  government data service with a single self-service key and no billing
  relationship of any kind.
plan_count: 0
plans: []
pricing_model: free-government-service
currency: USD
commercial: false
findings:
  - >-
    No pricing page exists and none is expected — the College Scorecard API is
    published under the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act open-data
    obligations, not as a commercial product.
  - >-
    Access control is a free API key issued automatically by api.data.gov
    (https://api.data.gov/signup/, HTTP 200 on 2026-09-09). There is no paid tier,
    no overage, no enterprise contract and no "contact us" sales gate.
  - >-
    The only lever above the default allowance is a courtesy rate-limit increase by
    email to scorecarddata@rti.org. It is a support request, not a plan.
  - >-
    Federal Student Aid's own partner systems (FSA Partner Connect, SAIG, COD,
    NSLDS) are not priced either; access is granted by program enrollment to
    schools, servicers and vendors rather than purchased.
quota_reference: rate-limits/federal-student-aid-rate-limits.yml