diff --git a/common/djangoapps/third_party_auth/models.py b/common/djangoapps/third_party_auth/models.py
index f00da2c1fc..00ec98d2e8 100644
--- a/common/djangoapps/third_party_auth/models.py
+++ b/common/djangoapps/third_party_auth/models.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ from social_core.utils import module_member
 
 from openedx.core.djangoapps.site_configuration import helpers as configuration_helpers
 from openedx.core.djangoapps.theming.helpers import get_current_request
+from openedx.core.djangoapps.user_api.accounts import USERNAME_MAX_LENGTH
 from openedx.core.lib.hash_utils import create_hash256
 
 from .lti import LTI_PARAMS_KEY, LTIAuthBackend
@@ -68,7 +69,7 @@ def clean_json(value, of_type):
 
 def clean_username(username=''):
     """ Simple helper method to ensure a username is compatible with our system requirements. """
-    return re.sub(r'[^-\w]+', '_', username)[:30]
+    return re.sub(r'[^-\w]+', '_', username)[:USERNAME_MAX_LENGTH]
 
 
 class AuthNotConfigured(SocialAuthBaseException):
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/__init__.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/__init__.py
index 77c3c99646..1cced0694b 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/__init__.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/__init__.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 Account constants
 """
 
-
+from django.conf import settings
 from django.utils.text import format_lazy
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
 
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ NAME_MAX_LENGTH = 255
 
 # The minimum and maximum length for the username account field
 USERNAME_MIN_LENGTH = 2
-USERNAME_MAX_LENGTH = 30
+# Note: 30 chars is the default for historical reasons. Django uses 150 as the username length since 1.10
+USERNAME_MAX_LENGTH = getattr(settings, 'USERNAME_MAX_LENGTH', 30)
 
 # The minimum and maximum length for the email account field
 EMAIL_MIN_LENGTH = 3