FACTS Tuition Management vs TUIO
FACTS Tuition Management is the school billing product of FACTS Management, a Nelnet company. 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
FACTS is a suite. Tuition management is one product in a line that also covers a student information system, admissions, family engagement and professional development, and FACTS itself is one business inside Nelnet Inc. (NYSE: NNI), which has owned it since 2006. FACTS says it has been running more than 40 years and serves 15,000+ schools and 2+ million families.
TUIO is one platform. Tuition management, enrollment, student records, communication and fundraising come together in TUIO Professional, and the same team answers the school and the parents.
The difference a bursar notices first is who holds the money. 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 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
- FACTS Tuition Management
FACTS Management, of Lincoln, Nebraska. A wholly owned subsidiary of Nelnet Inc. since 2006.
Sold to independent schools, Catholic and diocesan schools, and Christian and faith-based K-12 schools.
Tuition management sits alongside FACTS IQ, its student information system, and its Admissions, Engagement, Financial and Success products. FACTS’ pitch is one connected system across all of them.
The tuition product runs payment plans and incidental billing — technology, meals, childcare, field trips — and takes ACH direct deposit, cheques and debit and credit cards.
Capterra lists FACTS Tuition Management’s support as phone, chat and a 24/7 live representative.
- 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, fundraising, 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 FACTS Tuition Management, side by side
| What | TUIO | FACTS 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. | FACTS holds it between collecting from the family and remitting to the school. Nelnet, which owns FACTS, reports a revenue line it labels “interest income on tuition funds held in custody for schools”: $26.5 million in 2025. The same filing says the company “collects tuition payments and subsequently remits these payments to the appropriate schools”, and that a portion of that money sits at Nelnet Bank, “in which Nelnet Bank can use these cash deposits for general operating purposes”. Nelnet 2025 Form 10-K |
| 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. | Not published. No FACTS page or help article states how many days a school waits. |
| What the school pays | 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. FACTS’ tuition management page asks schools to get in touch for a quote. FACTS tuition management |
| How it is priced | TUIO Professional is $500 a year per location, with bank debit at $0.75 per transaction. Billing, enrollment, student records, attendance, communication and fundraising are included. | Priced per thing, and no price is published. Nelnet's annual report describes a fee for each payment plan, taken “from either the institution or the payer”, a fee for each grant and aid application processed, a fee per completed enrollment form, and a separate subscription for the student information system. Nelnet 2025 Form 10-K |
| 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. | FACTS’ parent FAQ says an enrollment fee may be due and that the amount “is indicated when setting up your agreement”. Schools publish what their own families are charged. Bosque School: “FACTS charges an annual fee based on the payment plan selected. This is a fee that is retained by FACTS”, $25.00 on its two-instalment plan and $55.00 on all others. Sacred Heart School of Glyndon publishes a $45 FACTS enrollment fee on its ten-instalment plan and none on its annual plan. FACTS parent FAQ Sacred Heart School of Glyndon Bosque School |
| What comes with it | TUIO Professional includes tuition management, enrollment and waitlists, communication, fundraising, 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. FACTS also sells FACTS IQ (its student information system), Admissions Intelligence, Engagement Intelligence, Financial Intelligence and Success Intelligence. factsmgt.com |
| 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 direct deposit, cheques, and debit and credit cards. FACTS tuition management |
| Getting started | One live hour with a TUIO specialist, who sets the school up and tailors it to the school’s fee schedules and forms. | FACTS runs implementation as a bespoke project with a named team. Its own page says “We connect you with dedicated FACTS team members to support you throughout the process. They’ll collaborate with you to establish a custom timeline”, and that “You’ll receive a custom training plan for the first year of use”. FACTS publishes no implementation length, no implementation charge and no account of who moves a school’s existing records. FACTS customer experience |
| Support, for staff and for families | 09:00 to 21:00 Monday to Friday, by phone, email, live chat or WhatsApp, and unlimited, for school staff and for parents. | Capterra lists FACTS Tuition Management’s support options as email and help desk, FAQs and forum, knowledge base, phone support, chat, and a 24/7 live representative. Capterra |
| Accounting | Custom reports, general ledger account mapping, and an export that imports into QuickBooks Online. The import runs through Saasant, a third-party tool billed separately from TUIO. A TUIO specialist sets up the ledger accounts and the first mapping with you. | FACTS says it manages tuition, incidental billing and accounting in one system. FACTS tuition management |
| Financial aid | Schools collect what they need on a TUIO form and apply the outcome to the family’s fees as a discount. | FACTS Grant & Aid Assessment is a separately purchased product, metered per application. Nelnet’s annual report states it plainly: “The Company earns service revenue by charging a fee for grant and aid applications processed.” FACTS tells families it is “an independent, third party company that conducts financial analysis to determine your family’s financial need”. A family submits “your federal income tax return, W-2 forms, and supporting documentation for non-taxable income” through a second account, because financial aid is “one exception to the single sign on experience”. FACTS parent FAQs FACTS customer experience Nelnet 2025 Form 10-K |
| Tax receipts | An administrator produces CRA and IRS tax receipts from the records already in the system, so they can be checked and signed off before families get them. | What FACTS publishes is a payment total the family prints for itself, not a receipt FACTS issues. Its help article tells the family to log in, “Select View Payment Summary”, then “Select a year and click Print”, and notes “This report will show the total paid for each of the accounts”. The Australian equivalent works the same way and adds “If you need a more broken down summary, please contact your school.” FACTS payment summary FACTS caregiver FAQs |
| Government subsidies | Subsidy amounts are applied to a family's fees as credits. A centre enters them one at a time or imports them in bulk from a spreadsheet, matched on the centre's own student numbers, with a preview before anything is applied. Re-importing a changed amount adjusts the credit without dropping it below what has already been used. | Not published. The nearest published thing is United States school choice, where FACTS verifies scholarship eligibility for “complex state, universal, and tax credit initiatives”. FACTS eligibility verification FACTS Childcare Management early access |
| 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. | Nelnet’s 2025 annual report says the company “uses the FACTS brand in the K-12 private and faith-based education markets”. Colleges and universities go to a different Nelnet brand, and the FACTS family FAQ sends them there. A childcare centre cannot buy FACTS on its own: FACTS Childcare Management is in early access and requires the centre to “Use FACTS Student Information System (SIS)” and to “Have the same tax ID as the school utilizing FACTS SIS”, billed separately from the SIS invoice. Nelnet 2025 Form 10-K FACTS parent FAQs FACTS Childcare Management early access |
FACTS Tuition Management details checked August 2026.
Where each one fits
- FACTS is the better fit if
You want one vendor for the student information system, admissions, fundraising, professional development and billing, and you are willing to buy the suite to get it.
You want a service that advertises round-the-clock assistance. FACTS lists a 24/7 live representative.
You want your general ledger and your billing under the same roof.
- 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.
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 families to contact TUIO directly by email for account and technical help.
What schools rate them
Capterra, FACTS Tuition Management listing, August 2026.
Moving to TUIO from FACTS
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 FACTS Tuition Management FAQ
What does FACTS Tuition Management cost a school?
FACTS’ tuition management page asks schools to get in touch for a quote, checked 20 August 2026. What is public is the family side: schools publish FACTS fee schedules themselves, and those describe a per-agreement enrollment fee that varies by school and plan length, plus a card service fee — 2.95% in one 2024-25 school brochure. TUIO Professional is $500 a year per location, and the bank-debit rate is on the pricing page.
How quickly does TUIO pay the school?
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. The money goes to the school’s own account, because each school is its own merchant of record.
Does TUIO hold our money?
No. Each 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. TUIO never holds the funds, pools them, or forwards them on later.
Is FACTS a bad product?
No. It is a large, long-established suite that thousands of schools run on. Its Capterra listing shows phone support, chat and a 24/7 live representative, and FACTS says it manages tuition, incidental billing and accounting in one system.
What do reviewers say about FACTS Tuition Management?
The Capterra listing for FACTS Tuition Management stands at 3.9 out of 5 from 9 reviews, read 20 August 2026. Its sub-scores are 3.6 for ease of use, 3.5 for customer service and 3.5 for value for money. FACTS has other Capterra listings covering its other products, with different scores.
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