Blackbaud Tuition Management vs TUIO
Blackbaud Tuition Management is the school billing product of Blackbaud, Inc., a software company listed on Nasdaq as BLKB. TUIO is billing, enrollment and student records for schools and childcare centres in Canada and the United States.
Both run payment plans, take payments automatically and invoice families. They differ on who holds the money, what they cost, and what is included.
The short answer
Blackbaud sells fundraising, financial and education software, and Blackbaud Tuition Management is its billing product for K-12 private schools. Blackbaud reported revenue of $1.13 billion for 2025 and about 2,800 employees, and says it has served private schools for more than 40 years.
TUIO is one platform. Tuition management, enrollment, student records, communication and fundraising come together on both plans, and the same team answers the school and the parents.
The difference a bursar notices first is who holds the money. Blackbaud collects family payments and deposits them to the school on the dates set by a School Remittance Calendar, which a school opens inside the product. With TUIO the school is its own merchant of record with its own settlement, so a family’s payment moves to the school’s own account. TUIO never holds the funds.
TUIO publishes its plan price and its bank-debit rate. TUIO Starter has no annual fee, and bank debit is 0.25% per transaction with a minimum of $2.50. TUIO Professional is $500 a year per location, in Canadian dollars for Canadian schools and US dollars for US schools, and bank debit is $0.75 per transaction.
What each one is
- Blackbaud Tuition Management
Blackbaud, Inc., listed on Nasdaq as BLKB. Its 2025 annual report records revenue of $1.13 billion, approximately 2,800 employees, and about 20% of its transactional recurring revenue coming from Blackbaud Tuition Management.
Sold to K-12 private schools. Blackbaud says it has served private schools for more than 40 years.
Families can pay by ACH, credit card and Pay Near Me, which takes cash payments, on payment plans the school sets.
Blackbaud sells Financial Edge NXT alongside Tuition Management, its accounting system for schools, and describes the two as forming one cohesive system.
Customer service is Blackbaud Tuition Management’s highest-rated category on Capterra, at 4.7 out of 5.
- TUIO
TUIO, of Toronto. Sold to independent and private schools, faith-based schools, Montessori schools, preschools and childcare centres, and public schools across Canada and the United States, in roughly equal numbers.
One platform: tuition management, enrollment and waitlists, communication and fundraising on both plans. Professional adds student information forms, attendance, roles and permissions, GL exports and tax receipts.
Each school is its own merchant of record with its own settlement. TUIO never holds the funds.
Support runs 09:00 to 21:00 Monday to Friday and is unlimited, for school staff and for parents alike.
CRA and IRS tax receipts are produced by a school administrator from the records already in the system, so they can be edited and signed off before they go out.
Onboarding is one live hour with a TUIO specialist. Prices are published.
TUIO and Blackbaud Tuition Management, side by side
| What | TUIO | Blackbaud Tuition Management |
|---|---|---|
| Who holds the money between the family and the school | The school does. Each school is its own merchant of record, with its own banking relationship and its own settlement, so the money moves from the family to the school. TUIO never holds the funds. | Blackbaud holds it between remittances, and its school contract settles what happens to the interest: “no interest shall be paid or earned by You, Your students, or Families (or other tuition payers) with respect to any funds We may hold on Your or their behalf.” Blackbaud’s filings report $845.4 million of restricted cash due to customers at 30 June 2026, and interest income it says it “primarily earn[s] on restricted cash due to customers for our payment processing solutions”. Blackbaud school terms and conditions Blackbaud Q2 2026 Form 10-Q |
| How soon the school is paid | Payouts start at 5 business days for pre-authorized debit and 3 for cards. After three months of processing with TUIO, you can apply to move to next business day. | On six fixed dates a month. The school contract says Blackbaud “will make reasonable efforts to transfer funds on the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, and 30th of each month”, and that it transfers funds “between five and ten days after a payment has been processed”. When a school adds or edits a bank account, disbursements are held pending verification. Blackbaud school terms and conditions |
| What the school pays | TUIO Starter has no annual fee, and bank debit is 0.25% per transaction with a minimum of $2.50. TUIO Professional is $500 a year per location, billed in Canadian dollars for Canadian schools and US dollars for US schools, and bank debit is $0.75 per transaction. Schools choose whether to absorb transaction fees or pass them on, in full or in part, on both bank and card payments. | Not published. Blackbaud’s tuition management page offers Request Pricing. Blackbaud Tuition Management |
| How it is priced | Both plans and their per-transaction rates are published on tuiopay.com, so a school can work out what it will pay before speaking to anyone. Choosing the plan is the only decision: there is no module list and nothing is quoted separately. | Blackbaud uses the phrase itself. Its K-12 page offers “award-winning à la carte software options” across eight separately purchasable areas, and its pricing page says price depends on “your organization's size, number of users, selected solutions or modules, and the level of support and services desired”. No price is published. Blackbaud K-12 software Blackbaud pricing |
| What a family pays | No annual per-family fee. Anything a family pays is a transaction fee the school has chosen to pass on, in full or in part. | Blackbaud publishes the amounts in its school contract, and they rise with the number of instalments: “$22.00 per Family (for single-payment plans ...) or $56.00 per Family (for multi-payment plans)”, “deemed to be fully earned at enrollment or account activation and is non-refundable”, plus 3.12% on cards and 1% plus $0.30 capped at $2.50 on bank payments. Its parent FAQ adds that the platform fee “can vary based on your school's contract and settings”, and schools publish figures either side of those, from $28 to $56. Blackbaud school terms and conditions Blackbaud parent FAQ Forest Montessori |
| What comes with it | Tuition management, enrollment and waitlists, communication and fundraising, on both plans. TUIO Professional adds student information forms, attendance and class management, roles and permissions, GL accounts and custom exports, and tax receipts. Nothing is sold as a separate module. | Tuition management is one product in Blackbaud’s line. Blackbaud sells Financial Edge NXT, its accounting system for schools, to run with Tuition Management, and describes the two as forming one cohesive system. Blackbaud |
| How families can pay | Pre-authorized debit in Canada, ACH in the United States, and credit or debit card. Families choose per payment plan. | ACH, credit card, Pay Near Me and more, on payment plans the school sets. Blackbaud says Pay Near Me allows simple cash transactions. Blackbaud Tuition Management |
| Support | 09:00 to 21:00 Monday to Friday, by phone, email, live chat or WhatsApp, and unlimited, for school staff and for parents. | Customer service is Blackbaud Tuition Management’s highest-rated category on Capterra at 4.7 out of 5, above its overall score. Capterra |
| Who it is sold to | Independent and private schools, faith-based schools, Montessori schools, preschools and childcare centres, and public schools, across Canada and the United States. About half of TUIO’s customers are in the United States. | K-12 private schools. Blackbaud says it has served private schools for more than 40 years. Blackbaud Tuition Management |
Blackbaud Tuition Management details checked August 2026.
Where each one fits
- Blackbaud is the better fit if
You want your school’s general ledger and its billing from the same vendor. Blackbaud sells Financial Edge NXT and Tuition Management to run together.
You already run Blackbaud for fundraising or school administration and want billing in the same place.
You want families to be able to pay in cash, which Pay Near Me allows.
A fixed remittance calendar suits your treasury better than money arriving as it settles.
- TUIO is the better fit if
You want the money to go straight to the school’s own account, with the school as merchant of record and nobody holding it in between.
You want to know the price before the call.
Your school is in Canada, or you run locations on both sides of the border and want one system issuing CRA and IRS receipts.
You want the whole platform on day one rather than a product at a time.
You want your families to be able to phone support themselves instead of routing every question through the office.
What schools rate them
Capterra, Blackbaud Tuition Management listing, August 2026. Most of those reviews were posted in May and June 2022.
Moving to TUIO from Blackbaud
A TUIO specialist sets the school up and tailors it during a single live hour: fee schedules, payment plans, families, and the forms the school already uses. Schools move mid-year as well as at the year boundary.
Families are invited by email and set up their own payment method. TUIO’s support line is open to them directly, so the school office is not the help desk for the transition.
Before you give notice, check what your agreement requires and how your current provider handles the final remittance after your last family payment goes through.
TUIO vs Blackbaud Tuition Management FAQ
Does Blackbaud hold a school’s money?
Yes, between remittances. Blackbaud’s school remittance information says the School Remittance Calendar “highlights the dates when Blackbaud Tuition Management will deposit funds into the school’s account”, and its refunds article tells staff to confirm a payment is Settled, “indicating the funds are in the school’s possession”, before issuing a manual refund outside the product. With TUIO the school is its own merchant of record with its own banking relationship and its own settlement, so a family’s payment moves to the school’s account and TUIO never holds it.
How quickly does each one pay the school?
Blackbaud pays on the dates set by a School Remittance Calendar, which a school opens inside the product. Its school remittance information also says that when a school adds or edits a bank account Blackbaud “automatically holds disbursements to the account pending its verification”, and that remittance stays suspended until the banking information is verified. TUIO payouts start at 5 business days for pre-authorized debit and 3 for cards; after three months of processing with TUIO, a school can apply to move to next business day.
What does Blackbaud Tuition Management cost a school?
Blackbaud’s tuition management page asks schools to request pricing, checked 22 August 2026. TUIO Starter has no annual fee and TUIO Professional is $500 a year per location, and the bank-debit rate for each plan is on the pricing page.
Is Blackbaud a bad product?
No. It is an actively sold product from a company that reported $1.13 billion of revenue for 2025 and employs about 2,800 people, it has been selling to private schools for more than 40 years, and customer service is its highest-rated category on Capterra at 4.7 out of 5.
What do reviewers say about Blackbaud Tuition Management?
The Capterra listing for Blackbaud Tuition Management stands at 4.1 out of 5 from 25 reviews, read 22 August 2026. Ease of use scores 4.4 and customer service 4.7. Most of those reviews were posted in May and June 2022. Blackbaud has other Capterra listings covering its other products, with different scores.
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