Can we make a scalable solution using MERN.io+Loopback?

We are trying to rebuild our university administration system and make it open source. The one we have right now does not work when a lot of students are trying to get in at the same time. We want a system that can scale. We are thinking of as modular a build as possible. Right now a React frontend and a Node backend seems logical.

We are not at a position to make everything form scratch and would like a headstart. I think MERN would be great for this. We would also like to use Loopback.io but we could not find many resources regarding this. Can you use loopback inside MERN.io? We are just students trying to help ourselves so it would be nice if anyone can give us a few pointers