Earnings per Common Share (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Earnings Per Share [Abstract]

Schedule of Earnings Per Share

Unvested share-based awards that contain nonforfeitable rights to dividends are considered securities which participate in undistributed earnings with common stock.

	Year ended December 31,
	2017				2016			2015
	Common shareholders		Unvested restricted stock shareholders	Total	Common shareholders	Unvested restricted stock shareholders	Total	Common shareholders	Unvested restricted stock shareholders	Total
Numerator:
Net income attributable to Nelnet, Inc.	$	171,442	1,724	173,166	254,063	2,688	256,751	265,129	2,850	267,979
Denominator:
Weighted-average common shares outstanding - basic and diluted	41,375,964		415,977	41,791,941	42,222,335	446,735	42,669,070	45,045,199	484,141	45,529,340
Earnings per share - basic and diluted	$	4.14	4.14	4.14	6.02	6.02	6.02	5.89	5.89	5.89