The partnership combines ISTS' premier scholarship administration capabilities with Backpack's modern financial technology infrastructure to streamline scholarship payments nationwide - a game changing advancement for the scholarship industry.
NASHVILLE, TN and NEW YORK, NY - 10/19/2026 - International Scholarship and Tuition Services, Inc. (ISTS), a leading provider of scholarship and education assistance program administration, and Backpack Payment Technologies, Inc. (Backpack), a financial technology company modernizing payments infrastructure within education funding, today announced a strategic partnership to transform how scholarship funds are delivered to universities across the United States.
Through the partnership, Backpack will power domestic scholarship payments on behalf of ISTS' clients, combining ISTS' established scholarship administration capabilities with Backpack's modern banking and payments infrastructure to deliver a more streamlined, efficient and integrated scholarship experience.
*Backpack is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by OMB Bank, Member FDIC.
Bringing Scholarship Administration and Payments Together
While scholarship administration has become increasingly sophisticated, the process of delivering funds to universities has remained largely fragmented and manual. Scholarship providers continue to rely on paper checks, disconnected payment systems and manual reconciliation processes, creating unnecessary administrative work and delays in getting funds applied to student accounts.
The partnership brings together two complementary capabilities to address this challenge. ISTS provides comprehensive scholarship management services, supporting organizations throughout the scholarship lifecycle, from application development and processing to recipient selection and award administration. Backpack provides the financial infrastructure to complete that process, facilitating electronic payments to universities alongside standardized remittance information and automated reconciliation.
Together, ISTS and Backpack are creating a more comprehensive scholarship solution, connecting the administration of awards with the delivery of funds to education institutions. Ultimately, both partners are poised to deepen value for existing clients and drive network growth with a premier solution designed for scholarship organizations, educational institutions, and advocates of educational access, affordability, and attainment.
“A scholarship’s impact is fully realized when funds reach the institution and support the student’s education,” said Munyette Moore, Chief Operating Officer of ISTS. “Our partnership with Backpack brings scholarship administration and payments together to reduce administrative complexity, streamline reconciliation and create a more seamless experience for providers, institutions and students. Together, we are building a scalable solution that helps our clients expand their impact and keeps student success at the heart of every award."
Modernizing How Scholarship Funds Reach Universities
Through Backpack's university payments platform, ISTS will be able to leverage modern electronic payment capabilities and Backpack's growing network of university partners to streamline the delivery of scholarship funds.
The partnership is designed to deliver several key benefits, including:
A more seamless, transparent student experience: Faster payments, fewer delays in applying funds to student accounts, and less time spent tracking down missing payments.
Faster, more efficient payments: Replacing manual, paper-based processes with modern electronic payment infrastructure to reduce delays in delivering scholarship funds.
Improved visibility and reconciliation: Connecting payments with standardized scholarship information, helping universities identify and apply funds to the correct student accounts.
Reduced administrative burden: Reducing manual processing, tracking and reconciliation for providers and universities.
"Scholarship providers do incredible work helping students access higher education, but the infrastructure used to deliver those funds to universities has been overlooked for far too long," said Callum Bedos, Founder and CEO of Backpack. "By bringing together ISTS' industry-leading administration capabilities and Backpack's university payments network, we're helping close that gap. This partnership is an important step toward our broader vision of making payments to education institutions as simple, fast and more connected than payments anywhere else in the financial system. Ultimately, we believe that reducing friction and administrative costs means more scholarship dollars can go toward supporting students, which is what this is all about."
Building the Financial Infrastructure for Higher Education
The partnership builds on Backpack's mission to modernize how money moves into higher education.
Backpack enables scholarship providers of all sizes, from individual foundations to large administrators like ISTS, to replace paper checks with automated, electronic university payments. Its broader payments network connects scholarship providers, financial institutions, 529 plans and other institutional payers directly with universities, streamlining payment processing and reconciliation.
Working with universities including the University of Chicago, the University of Alabama and Arizona State University, and payers such as the Coca-Cola Foundation, Piqua Community Foundation and Florida Prepaid, Backpack is building a more connected university payments ecosystem.
The partnership with ISTS expands this network, bringing automated payments to more scholarship programs nationwide.
About ISTS
International Scholarship and Tuition Services, Inc. (ISTS) is a leading provider of educational assistance program management for scholarships, tuition reimbursement, student loan repayment and more. With a commitment to excellence and a deep understanding of the higher education landscape, ISTS collaborates closely with clients to deliver customized solutions that encompass the entire lifecycle of a program and include the services, technology and support that program sponsors need to achieve their goals and make a real impact on students’ lives. Founded in Tennessee in 1985, ISTS is a 100% women-owned company serving organizations and students on a global scale.
Learn more at applyISTS.com.
About Backpack
Backpack is a financial technology company building the payments infrastructure for higher education. Its platform modernizes how financial institutions, scholarship providers, 529 plans, prepaid tuition programs and other organizations send money to universities. Through a growing network of university and institutional partners, Backpack combines banking, payments and automated reconciliation to eliminate paper checks, reduce administrative work and accelerate the delivery of funds to student accounts.
Backpack is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by OMB Bank, Member FDIC. Deposits in checking and savings accounts are held by OMB Bank and are eligible for FDIC insurance coverage. FDIC insurance covers the failure of an insured bank; pass-through insurance applies only if specific conditions are met.
Learn more at www.backpackpay.com/scholarship-providers.
Media Contacts
ISTS
Carissa WIllcoxon
Backpack
Callum Bedos
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