This Tuition Admin Help Doc will go over the basics and how to start setting up your tuition.
Your merchant processing account can be used for both the webstore and tuition. Base tuition and additional fees assigned in the tuition module should be considered as part of the mandatory tuition of the school rather than an elective fee that is created in the webstore.
The tuition module’s GL is connected to the webstore’s general ledger (GL) accounts and payment options. If you need to set up additional GLs for tuition, go to Webstore > General Ledger. Base tuition GLs can be differentiated by grade level.
Tuition Overview
The system is designed to simplify the tuition process for both the admin and parent. This may result in a change in your current process, but rest assured, it is ultimately easier in the long run. The goal of the tuition module is to allow the parent the opportunity to set up the payment plan of their choice. In turn, the system will calculate the appropriate payment amount depending on the chosen payment schedule.
The module allows admin to set payment schedules, penalty fees for late payments, base and additional tuitions and discounts / credits. The “Base Tuition” is grade specific. This base tuition will be assigned to all students. From the base tuition, admins can assess “additional tuitions / fees” to students. Additional tuitions and discounts / credits are set up with default amounts that can be added to a student and if needed, the amount can then be changed when assigning.
Parents can pay tuition as a family or by individual student. Parents will be able to view their tuition fee during registration and at that point, create an AutoPay account. This creates a secure “wallet” that securely warehouses their credit card / banking details. On the first scheduled payment date, the appropriate amount will be paid to the school. Parents will be informed of their payment status through the system emails. Once a parent selects a payment schedule, additional tuitions that have not been paid can be changed. However, credits cannot be changed. Additional tuitions and credits can be made throughout the year. Parents do have the option to elect "Manual Pay". If this is selected, the parent will have the responsibility to manually pay for each payment anytime prior to the scheduled due date.
The system does allow admin to accept Cash/ Paperchecks directly to the school admin.
DCP Setup:
Account Setting
DCP > Tuition > Setup > Merchants
- Select the Merchant from the dropdown
- Select the GL Account for Base Tuition. (This GL will be prepopulated for the GLs by grade. You will be able to edit the GLs at the grade level)
- Administrative Fee. This fee will be assessed every time a payment is made, when a Payment Plan is selected. This encourages parents to select the one-time payment, but give parents the option to choose a payment plan. Make sure you choose a dollar "Amount" or "Percentage"
Payment & Penalty Schedules
- Payment schedules are scheduled dates when payment will be made
- Click “Add Fee Scheduler” Button
- Enter “Scheduler” Name” and Description. This will appear in the parent portal
- Enter No of Payments, then click “Add”
- Enter the month, date and year of the payments
- Click Save
- Click “Add Penalty” Button
- Enter “Penalty Name” and “Description”. This will appear in the parent portal.
- Enter After(Days). This is the number of days after which a penalty will be assessed.
The penalty can be either a percentage or $ amount. Due to the way ACH funding works, we suggest that you allow at least 7 business days for ACH to completely clear before prematurely assessing a penalty.
Base Tuition for all grades
Base tuition can be assigned to each grade associated with a particular academic session
Enter the Name of grade, Description, Edit GL# and Amount for that particular grade
Click Save
Additional Tuition
Additional tuition are fees that can be added to the base tuition of a student. Ex. International Student Fee. When setting an Additional Tuition, the amount is a default amount. This amount can be changed when assigning the Additional Tuition to a student. If there are optional fees that parents can select or recurring financial obligations, the webstore may be a better option.
There are 2 payment due choices:
- Additional payment divided equally by the number of payments
- A custom date that admin selects according to the payment schedule dates set up.
Discount / Credit
Discounts / Credits can be given to students. This can be for financial aid, multiple siblings etc.
When setting a credit, the amount is a default amount. This amount can be changed when assigning the discount to a student.
System Email
System emails are emails that will be sent to parents. Default text is made available to you. You can edit the number of days preceding the payment date as a tuition reminder. You can also edit the content by clicking on the edit icon. Do no change the field in brackets as those are mail-merge fields.
Tuition Page Content
DCP > Settings > Page Content
To give parents instruction or information regarding tuition, customized text can be added in the page content. This will appear in the header of the tuition module
SCP Setup
The students will have already been pulled from the student manager and assigned the base tuition based on grade. You can now assign additional tuitions and discounts/credits to your students.
Assigning Tuition in Bulk
Use the Bulk Action in Task Manager to assign additional tuition and discounts to multiple students at once. You can do this by using the search button to filter your students, checking the box above the students and assign your additional tuition / discounts.
To make manual payments for a student, click the “Manual Payment” dropdown. Here you can mark payments as being paid. You can allocate the payment sequentially to pay off the next payments, or throughout which will spread the amount evenly to all payments.
To view the student's Payment Schedule Detail once the parent has committed to a schedule, click the “Payment Details” Dropdown button
