TuitionContracts

 Tuition Contracts

(2.98 or later)

I.     Overview

Tuition contracts outline the charges for each account and allow the user to create corresponding pledges and payments. The details of each fee are established in the School Charges Setup; charges are assigned specific terms and grades, billing schedules are customized, and scholarship allowances are made. These charges then follow individuals and accounts onto the tuition contracts mailing. The click of a button can auto-create charges, while the charges themselves remain flexible for individual adjustments. Pledges are then made from the contract, and ultimately, the payments themselves can be recorded.

II. School Charges Setup

To access the ‘School Charges Setup’ screen:‘School’ > ‘Setup’ > ‘School Charges’ 

A – Click ‘New…’ to set up a new school charge.

B – Type in the name of your charge. Example: “Tuition 13-14.”

C – Assign a category to your charge by choosing from the dropdown menu, or by typing a new one. Example:” Tuition.”

D – Enter the full amount of the charge.

If the charge is eligible for scholarship:

E – Check ‘Scholarship Eligible.’ Then click ‘Apply.’

H – Select a scholarship type from the dropdown. Then, click the arrow to apply the selected scholarship to this charge.

G – To view, edit, and/or create scholarship types, click on the ellipses  to the right of ‘Scholarship Types Available.’ Refer to the instructions below for “Scholarship Type Setup.”

F – Checking ‘Auto Create’ will later allow you to automatically create this specific charge for individuals and accounts that match the criteria that you have set.

I – Click on the ellipses  to the right of ‘Term/Grade,’ check the grade(s) and term(s) to which this charge should apply, and click ‘OK.’

J – Check ‘Account Charge’ if this charge should be billed once per account as opposed to once per student. For example, a dinner fee would typically be billed once per family (R Account Charge), in contrast to a tuition or trip fee which would likely be billed once per student (£ Account Charge).

K – Choose a billing schedule. To create a new billing schedule, click on the ellipses  to the right of ‘Billing Schedule.’ See below for instructions on “School Charges Billing Schedule Setup.”

L – Choose the billing occasion for this charge.

M – Checking ‘Once Per Occasion’ will ensure that an account will not get a new charge if a pledge for this occasion already exists. For example, you would choose this option for a building fund charge that is only required once per account per lifetime.

N – For viewing purposes, you can limit the charges that are shown on the screen. Simply check the box near ‘Limit To Terms,’ then the ellipses , and select the terms you wish to view.

i.     Scholarship Type Setup

In the ‘Scholarship Type Setup’ screen, you can view/edit properties of existing scholarship types and/or create new ones.

To access the ‘Scholarship Type Setup’ screen:

‘School’ > ‘Setup’ > ‘School Charges’ > 

To create a new scholarship type:

 A – Click ‘New…’
B – Name your scholarship. Example: “Pell Grant.”

C – Select a group from the dropdown or type your own. Example: “Government Aid.”

D – When to check ‘Create Matching Pledge’:

If the discount will be compensated for by a third-party, i.e. the government will reimburse for students who receive a Pell Grant, you should create a matching pledge to track money owed.

If the discount is of a general nature, i.e. sibling discount, a matching pledge should not be created.

If you choose to create the matching pledge:

E – Select an occasion.

F – Check the box for “Bill to Specific Account.”

G – Choose the correct account.

For discounts associated with government aid, an account such as “Pell Grant” can be set up. Then, matching pledges can be billed to that account.

i. School Charges Billing Schedule Setup

In the ‘School Charges Billing Schedule Setup’ screen, you can view/edit existing billing schedules and/or create new schedules.

To access the ‘School Charges Billing Schedule Setup’:

‘School’ > ‘Setup’ > ‘School Charges’ > 

To create a new billing schedule for school charges:

A – Click ‘New’ to set up a new billing schedule.

B – Name your billing schedule.

C – ‘Family Bill’ is generally checked so that a single pledge is created for a family instead of a separate pledge per child. Leave ‘Family Bill’ unchecked if there is a need to create individual pledges per child.

D – Choose a start date. Either type in the date, or click the down arrow for a calendar.

Distribution Options/Frequency Options

Either:  -Distribution Options: By Qty: Choose number of installments this bill will be paid in. (E)

-Frequency Options: Spread: Choose the number of months the installments should be spread over. (F)

Or:         -Distribution Options: By $ Amount: Choose the money amount due in each installment (G).

-Interval: Choose whether to charge weekly, monthly, etc. (H).

I – To delete an existing billing schedule (that has not yet been linked to any charges):

Select the billing schedule from the dropdown, and click ‘Delete.’

III.      Tuition Contracts

  Click ‘School’ > ‘Tuition Contracts’

  Choose an occasion from the dropdown         and click ‘Search’          .

All tuition contracts for the specified occasion will appear.

i.     Auto Create Charges and Pledges

Auto Create Charges

Auto Create Charges will automatically create charges on the tuition contract for all fees that have been previously set up (under ‘School Charges Setup’) to allow for this auto-create option.

A – Look to see that Auto Create Charges is selected.

B – Click the ellipses  to specify the status of students to whom you wish to apply the charges.

G – Click the Process button to create the charges.

Create Pledges

Create pledges for charges on the tuition contract that have not yet been created as pledges.

C – Click ‘Create Pledges.’

D –‘Finalized Only’ will only create pledges for the tuition contracts that have the ‘finalized’ box checked.

E – ‘Specific Charges’ allows you to bill only for specific charges. Click on the ellipses  to make the specification.

F – ‘Link If Exists’ will relate previous charges with current charges that are identical.

G – Click ‘Process’ to create the pledges.

ii. Edit Tuition Contracts

To edit an individual tuition contract, right click on the row of the desired account, and select ‘Edit Contract.’ Alternatively, you may double click on the row for the same result.

Notice the three tabs on the contract:

A)     Charges

B)     Billing

C)     Previous

A)    Charges Tab

The charges tab is where you can:    a. View Charges

                                                                          b. Create Charges

                                                                          c. Edit Charges/Apply Scholarships

a.      View Charges

The left side of the screen shows a breakdown of the individual charges:

-          There is a column for each student as well as a ‘total’ column.

-          The amount of each charge category (adjusted to reflect scholarships where applicable) is listed and highlighted in green and are totaled on the footer.

The right side of the screen shows the account charges and summarizes the scholarships. 

b.      Create Charges

If you have not auto-created charges, you can do so for a specific contract by clicking the ‘Auto Create’ button.

c.       Edit Charges/Apply Scholarships

Click ‘Edit Charges’ to make adjustments to any charge on this account.

-          Click the arrow  near a specific (non-auto-created) charge to apply it to the contract.

-          To apply scholarships, click the plus sign  to the right of the scholarship box, type in the amount of each scholarship, and click ‘OK.’ The total scholarship for this charge will display in the white box. Then, click the nearby arrow  to calculate and apply the new charge amount.

  To edit charges for a specific individual only, double-click anywhere in his/her column. Note that account charges will only appear for editing when clicking the ‘Edit Charges’ button.

  Clicking on ‘Edit Charges’ or double-clicking an individual’s column will automatically fill in the auto-create charges for this account/individual if they have not yet been created.

Access Student Information

-          Right click anywhere in a specific student’s column to access his/her student information.

B)          Billing Tab

Under the billing tab, you can: a. Create Pledges

                                                                b. Schedule Payments

                                                                c. Adjust Pledges

a.      Create Pledges

To create pledges:

1. Check the desired items under ‘Charges to Bill.’ Use the check boxes to the left of each item, or click the ‘Select/Deselect’ button to select or deselect all charges.

2. Click ‘Create Pledges.’

b.      Schedule Payments

See ‘Scheduling Payments.’

c.       Adjust Pledges

This utility is used for making adjustments to pledges that have been previously generated.

You will generally use this when:

1) there are pledges that were created before the contract was set up. Examples would include a registration fee or a tuition payment that has been pre-paid.

2) pledges were created with the contract, but contract charges were subsequently changed.

Click on the ‘Adjust Pledges’ button to access the ‘Adjust Existing Pledges’ screen.

The ‘Summary’ tab provides summaries of:

1) Each charge category, the amounts to be billed, and the billing schedules

2) Totals:        - Total charges in the contract

                            - Total pledges

                            - Total Remaining: the difference between the total charges and the total pledges

- Pledges Not Linked: Totals pledges on the account that are not connected to the contract, but do contain overlapping occasions

Click ‘Next’ to begin making adjustments.

The original pledges will be deleted since they are not linked or do not match, new pledges will be created in their place, and payments will be reapplied to the new pledges.

  The first grid lists all pledges (A)

  The second grid lists the payments towards the pledges (which you will later need to reapply) (B).

  The third grid shows pledges created based on scholarship setup (C).

D – To view pledges that are not connected to the contract, click ‘Display Unlinked Pledges.’

E – ‘Delete Pledge’ – deletes the selected pledge

F – ‘Delete All Pledges’ – deletes all pledges

G – ‘Recreate Pledges’ – Recreates the missing pledges according to the contract

H – ‘Edit Payment’ – allows you to edit the payment so that it can be reapplied to the new pledges.

I – ‘Delete Payment’ – Deletes the selected payment

J – Delete All Scheduled: Deletes all post-dated payments. Note: you will not be able to delete any payments that have been already billed by credit card or batched.

C)           Previous Tab

The ‘Previous’ allows you to see contract charges from previous years.

  Choose an occasion from the dropdown menu.

  When setting up occasions, you can set up a ‘Compare To’ occasion (most often, the previous year). When this is set, the previous tab will automatically load with last year’s tuition charges.

Printing Tuition Contracts

  To print an individual tuition contract, press the printer button at the bottom of the screen.

  To print multiple tuition contracts at once, use the mail merge wizard.

Contract Status

  The status of each contract is displayed on the top, right of the tuition contracts screen.

  The default status is ‘Entered.’

  After running the report, the status is automatically is updated to ‘Mailed.’

  The status can be manually changed at any time.