ISTS and Backpack Partner to Deliver Industry-Leading Scholarship

NASHVILLE, Tenn. & NEW YORK, October 19, 2026–(BUSINESS WIRE)–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.

“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.”