Import Students

Schools may have students that receive awards that are not need-based, such as merit scholarships or vouchers. If these students are not completing the financial aid application, they can be imported into Blackbaud Financial Aid Management (BBFAM) where their non-need-based awards can be tracked in budgets.

Note: Do not import a student if their family should complete the need-based application. The financial information required to determine need-based awards is only collected and reviewed through the application process.

To include awards for imported students in a budget, review the Eligibility criteria in the budget settings.

Awards for imported students can be included when using Send to Tuition Management or Send to Enrollment Management from a budget. For more information, see Budgets.

Warning: If you plan to send award information for imported students to Blackbaud Enrollment Management, the parent email addresses included in your import must match the parent Blackbaud ID email addresses in Enrollment Management so the student records can be matched across systems.

Imported students are included in Manage Families with an application status of "Imported".

Tip: Imported students and their parents do not have access to online award letters. However, you can download an award letter to provide to a family directly. See Award Letters & Templates for more information.

To import students

  1. Select Families, then Import Students.

  2. Select New import.

  3. Select Download template file.

  4. Open the downloaded file with a spreadsheet program, such as Microsoft Excel.

  5. Enter the data for the students you are importing.

  6. Save the updated import file as a .xls or .xlsx file.

  7. Under Upload student data, select Attach file and select the updated file containing your student data.

  8. Select Continue to validate the file.

  9. Review the data for validation errors, which are indicated by a red warning icon.

    Tip: Hover over a validation error to view the error message. You can also update the data to correct validation errors in this view.

  10. Once all validation errors are corrected, select Submit to process the import or select Save as draft to save the import for later.

    Note: Imports process at 11:00 pm EST.

  1. Select Families, then Import Students.

  2. Locate the import job and select Drafted. This opens the data review page of the import.

  3. Review the data and correct any validation errors.

    Note: You cannot add additional students to a drafted import. You must create a new import for additional students.

  4. When you're ready to process the import, select Submit or select Save as draft to save without processing.