We’re available to take administrators’ calls at 302-656-4944 from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EDT Monday through Friday, and we also have an after-hours hotline at 302-691-0393. If you find you can’t reach us—or you just don’t feel like picking up the phone—you can send an e-mail to help@ismfast.com any time, day or night, and we’ll get back to you.

We know what you’re thinking—a program with all these benefits and options will easily cost your school thousands of dollars a year. But it doesn’t! FAST—fun, accurate, easy-to-use FAST—is FREE for ISM’s Consortium members (membership has its privileges) and costs a mere $200 per year for non-member schools.

In a word: Yes. FAST is designed for all kinds of families, and separated or divorced parents can fill out the application from different locations at different times. Financial information is kept separate and private, which is particularly helpful in cases of joint custody.

We here at FAST hate waiting just as much as you do, and we want you to do as little of it as possible. So we designed FAST to be, well, fast. (Shakespeare we’re not, but you get the point.) Once the application is submitted, it goes directly to your school’s “new” bin and you are notified via e-mail. Then you can begin any internal processes right away. You can set the e-mail option to alert you immediately when an application is received, once a day, or not at all.

FAST isn’t the kind of program that’s going to leave you—the financial-aid administrator—stranded in some kind of financial-aid no-man’s land. First, there is the administrator hotline, staffed with professionals who know FAST and understand private-independent schools. You can also log on to a FAST support web seminar (our IT guys call them “webinars”) to get quality training right in the comfort and convenience of your own office. Or join other Financial Aid Officers on the FAST Blog, where you can gain knowledge and insight from your professional peers around the nation—and ISM’s financial aid experts.

FAST helps you to see all of the family’s finances quickly and easily, so you get a clear view of whether a family truly needs aid or really just needs to move education higher on its priority list. While most files simply run through your system, some applications need a second look, and FAST lets you analyze parent data to ensure that you’re awarding your school’s resources to applicants who truly deserve it. Let’s put it this way: In another life, FAST could’ve been a top-notch detective, solving financial-aid mysteries in its trench coat and fedora.

Yes. Think of FAST as your personal assistant, helping you to organize applications into various folders. These “bins” as we call them are easy to access, and you can move the application to different folders as it moves through the system. FAST can also set up “flags” that will automatically call your attention to a particular circumstance (for instance, if an applicant has business income). If you would like to have last year’s financial aid data to use as a comparison, you can do that, too. Fair warning, though: While FAST can handle all these tasks with grace and aplomb, it can’t pick up your laundry or do your grocery shopping.

Financial Aid Committees love FAST (and hey, FAST is quite loveable). Members can meet together and discuss each file as it is projected up on the wall or on each committee member’s laptop (so there’s no need to make copies for everyone). Committee members can review applications at any time, and from any location that has Internet access. One additional benefit is that you use less paper, creating a process that is very “green.”

Indeed it does. You can add or remove as much information as you deem fit for your presentation. Then kick back, relax, and rest assured that your school’s financial aid can be awarded fairly and equitably.

While we don’t claim to be experts in grammar (see the “Shakespeare” comment in FAQ #2), we do know that FAST is an expert in financial aid. Since every school’s financial-aid parameters and requirements are different, like so many unique and beautiful snowflakes, FAST lets you to set a host of “thresholds” that allow you to customize your financial aid criteria based on your school’s mission, values, and goals. You can control things like charitable contribution allowances, attract more “partial pay” families, use your financial aid strategically to help fill seats with mission-appropriate children, and much more.

Yes. Whether a student lives in Albany, Arizona, or any point in between, FAST will help you take the student’s local economy into consideration.

¿Necesita ayuda? Sin problema—se habla Espanol! FAST offers outstanding 24/7 customer support for parents that speak English or Spanish.

We don’t mean to brag here, but FAST is almost heroic in the support it provides to today’s busy parents! The online parent application side of FAST is laid out clearly in sections, and every line of the application that asks for a number has an associated “help” bubble that explains the field in detail. There is also a downloadable paper worksheet to help organize the information FAST requests.

And FAST doesn’t sleep, either. Our help line is always there, 24/7/365, to make the application process painless and easy. Parents can call in or e-mail their questions—whichever they prefer. And remember, support is available for Spanish-speaking parents as well.

We’ve got you covered. Once your school signs up with FAST, we’ll provide a link on your website that parents can use to start (or finish) the application process at their own convenience.

Within the application, FAST allows families to explain their current financial situation and any circumstances that may not be reflected in the numbers they are providing. Getting this information allows you to respond to current financial crises—and you can support these families by adjusting their applications, thanks to FAST’s flexibility.

If only your friend had used FAST. We keep things confidential, letting you and you aid committee know the suggested award amount without sending that information to the family. This approach avoids setting false expectations (either low or high) that a premature award amount can create for families. The school maintains the maximum flexibility in working with each individual parent.

Not very long at all. Once parents have all the documents necessary to complete the application—tax forms, mortgage information, etc.—it takes about 45 minutes to one hour (more time than it takes to watch a rerun of “Seinfeld”, but less time than it takes most pizza places to deliver your order). FAST is designed to save the information that parents have input, allowing them to complete the application at their convenience, in one sitting or several. Plus, there is a downloadable paper worksheet available to help you organize the information FAST requests.

Parents pay $34 per application. This fee can be paid for with Visa or MasterCard. Some schools opt to pay the fee, either directly or by including it in the school’s tuition costs—and that’s okay, too. With FAST, payment options are completely your school’s choice.

FAST has a voucher system for parents who don’t have a credit card. They simply pay your school the application fee, you generate a voucher, and ISM bills the school once a year for all vouchers used.

Schools are given two free vouchers every year, and Consortium members receive four free vouchers. (See? We told you membership has its privileges.) You can distribute these to applicants based on exceptional hardship or for mission-related reasons. Additional vouchers can be purchased from ISM.

Computer issues? There’s no such thing as computer issues when you’re using FAST, my friend! If you have access to the Internet through any of the major browsers (Explorer, Safari, Firefox, etc.), you should have no problem gaining access to FAST. Since FAST is Web-based, each computer accesses the program on its own terms. This is particularly important for the Financial Aid Committee, as it’s not a problem if one member has a Mac at home and another uses a PC in the office—they can both access all the information they need, in their own context, to make financial aid decisions. And they can do it at any time and from any location that has access to the Internet.

Yes, FAST allows you to set your financial aid budget and tracks how much you have left. FAST does not stop you from going over budget, but it will show that you have exceeded the set amount by showing your overage in red.

You bet it can. FAST has your school’s best interests at heart, and helps you to dig as deep as you need to on any given application. We also verify the taxes of all applicants, so you can rest assured that the tax information reflects what was reported to the IRS. No system is foolproof, but FAST gives you the tools you need to protect your school’s resources.

Yes. FAST is designed to help you archive information electronically, so you can have quick and easy access to the records of past applicants in your computer files. Plus, you won’t have to waste money housing voluminous amounts of files and paperwork in the local storage facility (trust us—your budget committee will like that).

Absolutely! All information is security encoded, transferred over the Internet's secure layer, and housed on servers that use up-to-date security precautions. FAST was designed so that the information is separated in its raw state and a family’s data cannot be seen in a readable fashion. Also, NO credit card information is stored by FAST, and no Social Security numbers are connected to any financial information.

ISM is the industry leader in management solutions for private-independent schools. We have worked with thousands of schools in the areas of governance, management, planning, evaluation, scheduling, and marketing, and we have trained more than 15,000 school administrators in our workshops.

This is important because FAST is not a software company that decided to work with schools. We are a consulting company that has been fully focused on private-independent schools for more than 30 years. We have researched and written about financial aid theory and practice, and we know what your school needs to fill seats and assure its viability.

Call Rochelle Himes, FAST Client Services Specialist, at 302-656-4944. She’ll be glad to answer any questions and set you up to take FAST for a trial run.