Schools are always looking for new ways to manage the sales of their digital products. Whether it’s processing payments on additional seats, additional IP addresses, or more bandwidth throughout the school year, this can be a tedious task with some payment service providers. Even if you have an existing tuition payment system that works for you now, there’s no guarantee that it will work the same way next year.

So, when choosing a tuition payment system, it’s important to consider the future of your school and whether or not they will continue to provide you with the services you need. Here are the primary payment methods that schools choose to use.

What are One-Time Payments?

One-time payments are just that: payments that are only made once. This could be a one-time payment for the entire school year, or it could be for a single course or product. One-time payments can be processed through a variety of methods, such as credit cards, debit cards, and even PayPal.

A school’s one-time payments can be used for any of the following:

  • Upgrades to existing accounts (additional seats, additional IP addresses, more bandwidth). These become necessary when stretching funds over the course of the school year becomes too difficult with the existing plan.
  • Purchasing items not covered by current subscriptions or pre-paid plans.
  • Paying for additional items over the course of the school year.

What are Subscription Payments?

Subscription payments allow a school to pre-pay a certain amount of money each month or quarter for a series of services and/or products that will be automatically renewed. This allows the school to have a set monthly or quarterly fee instead of having to pay for every purchase separately.

Subscription payments can be used for any of the following:

  • Services that are billed monthly, quarterly, biannually, or annually.
  • Products that are released on a set schedule (such as a new game each month, or a new textbook every quarter).
  • Purchases that do not fit the criteria for one-time payments (such as an annual subscription to a streaming service).

The program is designed so that after paying an initial one-time setup fee, each payment should only require a credit card on file and the occasional renewal with a new payment to cover a month with no additional charges.

What are Tuition Payments in a Tuition Payment System?

Tuition Payments are used to pay for the entire amount owed to a program at once. This will be done two weeks before the student’s account is set to expire. For example, if a school has 10 students in their program using an annual payment plan, they can choose to have payment due on March 15th every year. Once the funds have been processed via the payment method on file, the student’s account will renew for an additional year.

There is no limit to how many times a school can use its tuition payments.

Tuition payments can be used for any of the following:

  • The entire cost of a program.
  • Purchases that do not fit the criteria for one-time or subscription payments (such as an annual subscription to a streaming service).

When choosing a tuition payment system, it is important to consider the future of your school. Will the services that you need be provided by your chosen payment service provider? If not, it may be time to find a new provider.

A Tuition Payment System That Allows The Setup of All Three Payment Types

There are a number of different payment service providers and options available to schools looking to process payments for their schools. However, most of them will only offer one or two ways to pay your students. This can be frustrating when the needs of the school change throughout the course of the year, and restrictive in terms of how you can pay for items with your students.

SchoolCues offers a powerful and flexible platform that allows the setup of multiple payments types, depending on your school’s needs. Not only can we process any payments not covered by subscription plans (such as one-time payments and tuition), but we also allow for future purchases to be paid in installments throughout the year (subscription payment) or for the full amount to be due two weeks before the student’s account is set to expire (tuition payment).

With this feature, a school can have one card on file that allows them to pay for any of these three types of payments. This makes it simple and easy for them to make all necessary purchases with a single card.

Numerous schools already use the School Payments Platform and have found it to be a simple and easy way to manage their payments with their students.

Schools looking for a more flexible way to process their payments will benefit from using SchoolCues. We offer the ability to do any of the following:

  • Process payments that aren’t covered by subscription plans (such as one-time or tuition payments).
  • Have future purchases and renewals processed in installments throughout the school year (subscription payment).
  • Have the full amount due two weeks before the student’s account is set to expire (tuition payment).

All three can be used on different purchases based on the school’s needs.

A school tuition payment system allows for schools as well as districts to process any payments not covered by subscription plans (such as one-time and tuition payments). This keeps the payment system simple and easy for school staff, while also allowing more flexibility when making purchases throughout the course of the school year.

 

SchoolCues is an all-in-one school management system for small schools with limited budgets and resources. Our solutions include admissions and enrollment, online payments, student information system, gradebook, communications, parent engagement, donations and fundraising, alumni management, and more. Schedule a demo with us today.