# Get your FSA Partner Connect user access through an API

> Read your SAIG mailboxes, the FSA system access each of your users holds and the notifications on your Dashboard with one API call each. A workflow can check the Dashboard every weekday morning and email you each week's changes to user access.

Page: https://fous.com/automate/fsa-partner-connect
Updated: 2026-11-12

Works with your own FSA Partner Connect account. Fous is an independent product.

## What you can build on Partner Connect

### List SAIG mailboxes and their services

Reads your organization's SAIG mailboxes in the Account Access Management Center, with each mailbox's type and the services or accesses linked to it.

- Takes: Nothing
- Returns: Mailbox number, mailbox type, linked batch services, linked online accesses

### List users and their FSA system access

Reads the users your administrators manage in the Account Access Management Center and the SAIG mailboxes, batch services and FSA systems each one can use.

- Takes: FSA system (optional)
- Returns: User name, administrator role, SAIG mailbox, FSA systems, batch services

### Read Dashboard notifications

Reads the notifications on your Partner Connect Dashboard, which stay there until the issue or task behind them is resolved.

- Takes: Nothing
- Returns: Notification title, text, related system or task, date shown

### Find a school with Partner Search

Runs Partner Search under Partner Connect Services by Partner ID Type and Partner ID, by School Name, or by City and State, and reads the matching schools.

- Takes: Partner ID Type and Partner ID, or school name, or city and state
- Returns: School name, partner ID type, partner ID, city, state

## Automate Partner Connect with a workflow

A [workflow](/product/workflows) runs your methods as one process, with nobody at the screen. A schedule or a call from your own system starts it, the steps run in order, and the result arrives in your inbox or in the systems you already use.

### New Dashboard notifications, every morning

Starts: Every weekday at 8:00

1. Read the notifications on your Partner Connect Dashboard.
2. Keep the notifications that were not there on the last run.
3. Email you each new one with its title, text and related system.

### Weekly review of who can reach which FSA system

Starts: Every Monday at 7:00

1. List your users and the FSA systems, SAIG mailboxes and batch services each one holds.
2. Keep the users whose access changed since the last run, or who are new.
3. Email you the changes, grouped by FSA system, for your access review.

### Monthly SAIG mailbox check, posted to your records

Starts: On the 1st of every month at 9:00

1. List your SAIG mailboxes with their types and linked services.
2. Keep the mailboxes that are new or whose services changed since the last run.
3. Post mailbox number, type and services to your webhook.

You can run a workflow by hand on every plan, Free included. Schedules and webhook triggers come with the paid plans, from $29 a month.

## Once built, one call from your code

Once you have built a [method](/product/methods), it is one POST to /v1/runs from your backend, or a tool an AI agent calls over MCP. This is what “List SAIG mailboxes and their services” would look like.

Example request:

```
curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "fsapartners.ed.gov/list_saig_mailboxes",
    "input": {}
  }'
```

Example response:

```
{
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "organization": "Northwind College",
    "mailboxes": [
      {
        "mailbox_number": "TG99901",
        "mailbox_type": "Primary",
        "batch_services": [
          "FPS"
        ],
        "online_accesses": [
          "COD Online"
        ]
      }
    ],
    "count": 1
  }
}
```

An example with invented data, not a ready-made endpoint. The method exists in your organization once you build it, and its name, inputs and fields follow your request.

## Partner Connect’s own options

Federal Student Aid's help centre describes no API for Partner Connect's own screens. Machine exchange with FSA systems runs as batch data through SAIG mailboxes, which schools and servicers enroll for in Partner Connect to exchange data with FPS, COD and NSLDS. The Dashboard, user access and searches are used in the browser.

| Option | What it covers | What it takes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| SAIG batch exchange | Batch data with the FAFSA Processing System, COD and NSLDS, the FISAP transmission and eCDR delivery. | Enrollment in Partner Connect: a TG or FT mailbox with batch services, assigned by your Primary Administrator. |
| Partner Connect by hand | The Dashboard, the Account Access Management Center, Manage Administrators, Account Search and Partner Search. | An FSA User ID, a password and a registered TFA token, with access set by your organization type and role. |

Read on November 12, 2026: [Access to FSA systems](https://fsapartners.ed.gov/help-center/access-to-fsa-systems), [Enrollment and management for systems and services FAQ](https://fsapartners.ed.gov/help-center/fsa-partner-connect-frequently-asked-questions-faq/enrollment-management-systems-and-services-faq), [Access and identity management FAQ](https://fsapartners.ed.gov/help-center/fsa-partner-connect-frequently-asked-questions-faq/access-and-identity-management-faq).

## Signing in to Partner Connect

Partner Connect signs you in with an FSA User ID and a password with Two-Factor Authentication: a code from a physical key fob token or from the VIP Access app on your phone. The same FSA User ID reaches FPP, NSLDS and COD Online. With Fous you sign in through Partner Connect's own sign-in with your own account, and the login is sealed with AES-256, never returned by the API and never seen by code or AI agents.

## Worth knowing

- **Access lapses after 90 days without use**: If a user does not access a specific system for 90 calendar days, FSA disables that user's access to that system. The 90 days are counted separately for each system.
- **Passwords expire every 90 days**: A warning appears 5 days before a password expires. Three unsuccessful login attempts lock the account for 30 minutes.
- **Several organizations, one chosen at sign-in**: A user linked to more than one user group or organization picks one at first login, and later logins default to the last one chosen. What you see depends on your organization type and role.
- **Only administrators manage access**: The Primary Administrator assigns SAIG mailboxes, batch services and FSA systems and enrolls Secondary Administrators. A new account can take up to 24 hours to create.

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## Frequently asked questions

### Does FSA Partner Connect have an API?

Not for its own screens, as far as Federal Student Aid's help centre describes. Data moves to and from FSA systems as batch files through SAIG mailboxes, which you enroll for in Partner Connect. The Dashboard, user access and Partner Search are used in the browser.

### Why did a user lose access to COD Online or NSLDS?

If a user does not access a specific system for 90 calendar days, FSA disables that user's access to it. The count runs separately for each system, so a user can keep one system and lose another.

### Who can give a staff member access to an FSA system?

Your organization's Primary Administrator, who assigns SAIG mailboxes, batch services and FSA systems in the Account Access Management Center. The Primary Administrator also enrolls and manages Secondary Administrators, and you change the Primary Administrator under Manage Administrators.

### What kinds of SAIG mailboxes are there?

Primary, Batch, Test, FT and Individual, numbered TGxxxxx or FTxxxxx. An FT mailbox is created automatically when an FPS batch is added to a Primary or Batch mailbox.

### Is Fous affiliated with the US Department of Education or Federal Student Aid?

No. Fous is an independent product. You use it with your own Partner Connect account, and a method reads and does only what that account can.

Fous is an independent product: it is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the operator of FSA Partner Connect (US Department of Education, Federal Student Aid). The name is used only to say which system this page is about. Something here wrong or out of date? Write to legal@fous.com.