Over the course of a school year, schools bring in millions of dollars in income. But even in a best-case scenario, with all students bringing their fees on time, there’s still an average of 20% that is owed by students who forget or don’t pay. This percentage can increase if you’re dealing with parents making payments on behalf of their children.
From the private sector to education, paying your dues on time is the way things work. And while there are a plethora of different ways to collect fees and dues at school, some of these methods are more effective than others. Here are 5 tips for increasing fee collection regularity in any school.
Provide clear instructions
School fees are an important source of income for the school. They are not just for paying for teachers and buying books and chalk. They are also used for the school facilities and maintenance (like the school building, electricity, water supply, and playing field). The school fees are usually collected at the beginning of the school year. If the fees are not collected, then students will not be allowed to attend the school. The school might also not be able to pay its teachers and maintain the facilities. Therefore, it is important to give parents and students these details and clear and concise instructions to help them pay their dues in the most hassle-free way. Provide information in a variety of languages.
Setup a system with several payment options
When it comes to taking payments, schools have it rough. Paying for school lunch is a very regular thing, and sometimes students forget their lunch money or just flat out refuse to pay. This often results in the school feeding the student for free anyways, or sometimes it results in the student going hungry. That being said, there are a few things schools should do to improve their fee collection.
When many students are in need of a fee, it can be challenging to get everyone to pay on time. Most schools require a registration fee, uniform fee, textbook fee, and activity fee. By implementing a registration scheme that allows students to pay for their fees through any method, they find easy, including credit card, debit card, or directly through the bank, it can make fee collection a lot easier. This gives students the option to pay their fees easily and securely.
Offer flexible plans
In many schools, parents who are struggling financially or who are new to the country may not be given the opportunity to pay the school fee because they did not follow the standard payment plan. The school should offer a payment plan that is flexible and can be adapted to the clients’ needs, whether they are poor or new to the country or have other circumstances that may prevent them from paying the money in a timely manner. Having a flexible payment plan will help parents to meet the deadline and will help the school to improve fee collection.
Schools can benefit from offering flexible payment plans to accommodate parents. The first step in increasing fee collection is to plan for the worst. If you are expecting a certain number of students, but the number of students who enroll is lower than expected, then you need to be prepared. Schools should not close if they have insufficient funding, as this can be detrimental to the school and the students. When schools are underfunded, students suffer as the grades may be lower due to a lack of extra money for supplies and materials.
Structure automatic personalized email system
It is not difficult to figure out that life is becoming more and more convenient. With the rapid development of information technology, life has become more and more convenient. However, the convenience of life is also related to the convenience of the fee collection. A well-designed email template can help improve the fee collection rate. Whether it is to remind about due fees or give out instructions, you can create personalized emails and send them to parents’ emails. However, creating and sending emails manually can take up a lot of your time. You can use a service like Payleadr debit finance to personalize emails, automate sending, provide payment options and much more to increase the collection rate.
Get a report on late fee submissions and collection rate
Get a report on late fee submissions and collection ra1te to get a clear picture of the current situation and the reason for any delays. This will enable schools to target their efforts where they are most needed. Schools can also get a report on the reasons for late fee submissions. This can help schools to adjust the due date for fees, for example, as well as to see what other measures may be needed to improve fee collection. Finally, schools can get a report on the collection rate for fees. This will give them a clear picture of the actual collection rate and how that compares to their target rate. By comparing actual collection rates with the rates schools have set, they can see where efforts to improve fee collection are most needed.
You will also be able to see if you are collecting enough money and if you can improve the collection rate by notifying students and parents of the consequences of not paying their fees on time.
