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The complete record for every student — attendance, grades, transcripts, schedules, classroom pages, health, and discipline. Built for the way independent schools actually work.
Capture inquiries, manage your funnel, send applications, collect deposits, and convert families to enrolled students — without ever leaving the platform that already holds their record.
Built in — not bolted on. After Sycamore acquired TuitionEP in 2024, billing shares the same family record as the SIS. Run payment plans, collect ACH and card, and offer tuition refund protection.
Sycamore: $4/student/month list price, all-in for SIS + admissions + communication + parent app + Academy training. Volume discounts apply for schools over 400 students; deeper discounts and reduced setup fees for multisite groups (1,200+ students). Sycamore Payments is included — no monthly minimums; transaction fees only when used (credit card 3.9%; ACH 1.8% with the ~0.8% banking portion capped at $5 — Sycamore's 1% service fee always flows uncapped). Competitor benchmarks reflect publicly reported ranges: FACTS lists modular pricing starting at $5–6/student/month with separate fees per module; Blackbaud, TADS, and Veracross use custom contracts and have been reported by schools at $20K–$28K+/year. Manual time costs modeled at $35/hr × 50 weeks: 6 hrs/week for integrated SIS competitors, 8 hrs/week for schools running 3 separate tools, and 40 hrs/week for schools running on Excel & Sheets (one full-time equivalent of work spread across admins, teachers, admissions, and finance staff).
No monthly minimums. No annual platform fees on the payments side. Transaction fees only when families pay tuition — and you decide how those fees are funded.
Total per transaction. Includes 1% Sycamore service fee + ~2.9% card-network fees.
Sycamore's portion: 1% — locked, regardless of who pays.
Total per transaction. Includes 1% Sycamore service fee + ~0.8% banking/network fees. The 0.8% banking portion is capped at $5 — large tuition payments don't get hit with runaway network fees.
Sycamore's 1%: always flows uncapped — locked, regardless of who pays.
Yes, our payment fees are higher than some bare-metal processors. The reason: no monthly minimums, no platform fees, the highest-rated parent app in K-12 (4.9★ TuitionEP), and the same support team that knows your SIS, admissions, and billing. Sycamore's portion of the fee is fixed; the rest is card-network / banking pass-through.
At 1,200+ students (multisite), pass-through licensing reduces the school's software line item by 66%. Multisite tier includes reduced one-time setup fees ($750 vs. $1,500 standard).
Sycamore's portion of every card and ACH transaction is a flat 1% — uncapped. The remainder of each fee (card networks, ACH banking) is pure pass-through. The 0.8% ACH banking portion is the only piece capped at $5.
Quiet summer? Your payments line goes to zero. No monthly platform fee, no annual minimum, no penalty for low transaction volume.
Per-student license drops at 400, 800, and 1,200 students. Districts, dioceses, and school groups get the deepest tier plus reduced setup fees.
| Capability | Sycamore | FACTS | Blackbaud | TADS | Veracross |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App Store rating (parent-facing iOS app) |
4.4★★★★★
Sycamore parent app
4.9★★★★★
TuitionEP (billing)
|
Low★★★★★
FACTS Family App
|
Low★★★★★
MobilePay (reset after v4)
|
—
No native app
|
n/a
NAM: not enough ratings
|
| SIS + Admissions + Billing on one database | ✓ Native | ~ Bolted | ~ Bolted | ~ Billing-led | ✓ Native |
| Designed for independent K-12 | ✓ | ✓ | ~ Enterprise | ✓ | ✓ Larger schools |
| Unlimited US-based support included | ✓ | ~ Tiered | ~ Tiered | ~ Tiered | ~ Tiered |
| Tuition refund protection built in | ✓ Vertical Insure | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Training academy included | ✓ Sycamore Academy | ~ Paid | ~ Paid | ~ Limited | ~ Paid |
| Flexible pricing (school-pay, split, or pass-through) | ✓ All three | ✗ Custom only | ✗ Custom only | ✗ Custom only | ✗ Custom only |
| Transparent per-student pricing | ✓ $4/student/mo | ✗ Custom only | ✗ Custom only | ✗ Custom only | ✗ Custom only |
| International deployments | ✓ 42 countries | ✓ | ✓ | ~ US-focused | ~ Limited |
| Time to launch | 4–8 weeks | ~ 8–16 wks | ~ 12–24 wks | ~ 8–16 wks | ~ 12–20 wks |
Live on iOS & Android. Payments, attendance, grades, and school messages on one screen — pulled live from the SIS your staff use.
View on App Store →Family billing app for tuition plans, autopay, statements, and tuition refund protection — among the highest-rated apps in K-12 fintech.
View on App Store →Reviewers report constant logouts, "page takes forever to load," and that "$5/month for what used to be free." Several note Apple won't let them give zero stars.
View on App Store →Recent v4 rebuild followed a stretch of "literally unusable" reviews — login crashes, reader pairing failures. Rating was reset on the App Store.
View on App Store →No native parent app on iOS or Android. Families have to use a mobile web view — no push notifications for tuition, attendance, or messages.
No App Store listingNewer app from a third-party builder (Digistorm). Public reviews mention "invalid credentials" loops between iPhone and iPad. Insufficient ratings to display a score on the App Store.
View on App Store →"Our teachers are very happy to be able to post grades, our parents are happy to have direct access to their child's academic progress on a daily basis, and our office administrator is happy to be able to print report cards in minutes. I continue to be very pleased with the functionality of Sycamore as well as the outstanding customer support!"
"I usually get an answer within 10 minutes any time I submit a ticket for technical help. The customer support is clear and responsive — and that matters when you're a small private school without a full IT department."
"Sycamore is a multifaceted student information system that stands out for its integration with Google and a high degree of individualization for schools. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools for managing student data and communication — a valuable asset for Catholic schools seeking a streamlined and adaptable solution."
