Fee Management System

Sibling discounts are configured as rules linked to family records. You define the discount tiers: for example, no discount for the first child, 10% tuition discount for the second, 15% for the third, and 20% for the fourth. The system identifies siblings automatically through the parent/guardian record shared across student profiles. When any sibling enrolls or withdraws, the discount recalculates for all siblings in the family. If the third child transfers out mid-year, the fourth child's discount adjusts from 20% to 15%, and credit notes or supplemental invoices generate automatically. The family sees updated balances in their parent portal immediately.

Payment plans define installment schedules with due dates and amounts. For a $28,000 annual tuition split into 10 monthly installments, the system creates 10 invoice lines of $2,800 each with due dates on the first of each month from August through May. Each installment generates its own payment reminder sequence. If the family misses the October payment, the late fee applies only to that installment while November's reminder goes out on schedule. The parent portal shows each installment's status (paid, upcoming, or overdue) with the ability to pay individual installments or the full remaining balance online.

Each payment channel posts to the student's account through its own workflow. Stripe payments register automatically via the gateway integration and post to the student's invoice in real time. Check payments are recorded by front desk staff against specific invoices with a receipt number. Wire transfers match through bank feed import rules that identify the student using the reference number provided in the transfer instructions. All four channels appear on the same student ledger card, so your AR team sees one unified payment history per student regardless of how the family paid. Bank reconciliation matches all channels against your bank statement in a single process.

Refund calculations follow your institution's configured policy. When a withdrawal is processed, the financial module calculates the refund based on the withdrawal date and your rules, for example, 100% refund in the first week, 75% in weeks two through four, 50% through the midpoint, and no refund after that. The system generates a credit note, routes it through your approval workflow, logs the approver's decision, and once approved, creates the refund transaction. If the original payment was by credit card, the refund can process back to the original method. The student's financial record retains the full history: original charge, payments received, credit note, approval record, and refund disbursement.

Fee invoices and payments generate double-entry journal entries automatically within the same database. When an invoice is created, the system debits accounts receivable and credits deferred revenue (or tuition revenue, depending on your recognition policy) with tags for the student, campus, program, term, fiscal period, and cost center. When a payment posts, the system debits cash or bank and credits accounts receivable. Revenue recognition rules can spread annual tuition payments across months for GAAP compliance. Your finance team never creates manual journal entries for routine fee transactions. The entries post at the moment the business event occurs, and the audit trail connects every ledger entry back to the originating student invoice.