Financial Aid applications are on the rise. Meanwhile, the need to operate more efficiently and spend funds more wisely is a top priority for private and independent schools today.

Implementing a financial aid strategy that’s right for your school while providing a smooth family experience is crucial to keeping finances healthy and enrollment strong.

A single financial aid application

To support our schools in their efforts, Community Brands is bringing together two of its leading brands, TADS Financial Aid and School and Student Services (SSS), onto a single software platform.

By consolidating these two leading services onto one platform, families will be able to apply to both SSS and TADS schools through a single financial aid portal. This means that families will need to fill out just one application and pay just one application fee.

This innovative approach will streamline the family experience but keep the flexibility that schools love most about TADS. Schools can still use the TADS needs-based methodology and make formula customizations as they see fit. Or schools can choose the NAIS-backed SSS methodology to calculate need. It all depends on what aligns best with the school’s philosophy and mission.

To achieve this unparalleled offering, the Community Brands team has built a new, modern TADS Financial Aid portal on the commercially-available Salesforce platform. (The Salesforce platform is the same software platform that has supported the SSS financial aid solution for the past seven years.)

When the new portal becomes available TADS schools will see benefits like:

  1. Moving applications through the review process faster
  2. More control over their financial aid applications and data
  3. Eliminating the need to contact TADS Support to make changes

Helping families who need it most

With a single application for families also comes the ability to offer the Means-based Waiver (MBW). This is a truly unique waiver has been exclusive to SSS for the past six seasons but will now expand to help families who apply for TADS schools as well. The program automatically identifies families who meet certain criteria and waives the application fee for those families.

Not yet a TADS customer?

Learn how the TADS suite of solutions works together to save your staff time and enhance your family experience – from admission to financial aid, to billing and day-to-operations. Let us know how we can help!

Read the official announcement from Community Brands.