diff --git a/htdocs/auth/internal/lib.php b/htdocs/auth/internal/lib.php
index 23543dcd7bab9bd94533bf81bac011cab380abba..523483bae02629aab08b883f324490c9333e89a2 100644
--- a/htdocs/auth/internal/lib.php
+++ b/htdocs/auth/internal/lib.php
@@ -132,6 +132,26 @@ class AuthInternal extends Auth {
     public function is_username_valid($username) {
         return preg_match('/^[a-zA-Z0-9!@#$%^&*()\-_=+\[{\]}\\|;:\'",<\.>\/?`]{3,30}$/', $username);
     }
+    /**
+
+
+     * Internal authentication allows most standard us-keyboard-typable characters
+     * for username, as long as the username is between three and 236 
+     * characters in length.
+     *
+     * This method is NOT part of the authentication API. Other authentication
+     * methods never have to do anything regarding usernames being validated on
+     * the Mahara side, so they do not need this method.
+     *
+     * This method is meant to only be called for validation by an admin of the user
+     * and is able to set a password longer than thirty characters in length
+     *
+     * @param string $username The username to check
+     * @return bool            Whether the username is valid
+     */
+    public function is_username_valid_admin($username) {
+        return preg_match('/^[a-zA-Z0-9!@#$%^&*()\-_=+\[{\]}\\|;:\'",<\.>\/?`]{3,236}$/', $username);
+    }
 
     /**
      * Changes the user's username.
@@ -144,10 +164,19 @@ class AuthInternal extends Auth {
      * @return string The new username, or the original username if it could not be set
      */
     public function change_username(User $user, $username) {
+        global $USER;
+
         $this->must_be_ready();
 
         // proposed username must pass validation
-        if ($this->is_username_valid($username)) {
+        $valid = false;
+        if ($USER->is_admin_for_user($user)) {
+            $valid = $this->is_username_valid_admin($username);
+        } else {
+            $valid = $this->is_username_valid($username);
+        }
+
+        if ($valid) {
             $user->username = $username;
             $user->commit();
         }
diff --git a/htdocs/lib/db/install.xml b/htdocs/lib/db/install.xml
index 28ae58acce389226f177a35f99f381248f94dc8b..9f304d88e52705897b537f41a0187ebf1de4c074 100644
--- a/htdocs/lib/db/install.xml
+++ b/htdocs/lib/db/install.xml
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@
         <TABLE NAME="usr">
             <FIELDS>
                 <FIELD NAME="id" TYPE="int" LENGTH="10" NOTNULL="true" SEQUENCE="true"/>
-                <FIELD NAME="username" TYPE="char" LENGTH="100" NOTNULL="true"/>
+                <FIELD NAME="username" TYPE="char" LENGTH="255" NOTNULL="true"/>
                 <FIELD NAME="password" TYPE="char" LENGTH="40" NOTNULL="true"/>
                 <FIELD NAME="salt" TYPE="char" LENGTH="8"/>
                 <FIELD NAME="passwordchange" TYPE="int" LENGTH="1" NOTNULL="true" DEFAULT="0"/>
diff --git a/htdocs/lib/db/upgrade.php b/htdocs/lib/db/upgrade.php
index 1a51430bd9a8da31b3204de8997ff3f3766eb0e0..744ef8f901e84f9231cb4c783cc33b437770a30b 100644
--- a/htdocs/lib/db/upgrade.php
+++ b/htdocs/lib/db/upgrade.php
@@ -2262,5 +2262,12 @@ function xmldb_core_upgrade($oldversion=0) {
         }
     }
 
+    if ($oldversion < 2011050600) {
+        $table = new XMLDBTable('usr');
+        $field = new XMLDBField('username');
+        $field->setAttributes(XMLDB_TYPE_CHAR, 255, null, XMLDB_NOTNULL);
+        change_field_precision($table, $field);
+    }
+
     return $status;
 }
diff --git a/htdocs/lib/version.php b/htdocs/lib/version.php
index 1a88032678c2d652bfea81a3fe43e50a7a444f04..2822b1375da7fdc1c1b81bbbd28b186188fcb7e0 100644
--- a/htdocs/lib/version.php
+++ b/htdocs/lib/version.php
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 defined('INTERNAL') || die();
 
 $config = new StdClass;
-$config->version = 2011050300;
+$config->version = 2011050600;
 $config->release = '1.4.0alpha2dev';
 $config->minupgradefrom = 2008040200;
 $config->minupgraderelease = '1.0.0 (release tag 1.0.0_RELEASE)';