The digitization revolution completely changed the way student fees are managed at institutions and paid by parents. Gone are the days with long queues in the administrative office on the day of fee payment and the big files containing the details of the fee collected and to be collected from individual students. And all the hassles regarding depositing the cash and cheques of collected fees and handling bad cheques are now fading slowly with the increased implementation of digitization software tools in all processes of running an educational institution. This trend is going to continue and take the entire education industry online with all the struggles of fee collection and payment a lost memory of the past.

Let’s have a look at how managing fees payment online can benefit your institution:

Even though the concept of online fee payment and collection looks very simple and straightforward, the benefits of implementing a proper online fee system and process for schools and colleges are multifold due to the inherent complexities in the structure of operations in a school or college. The same complexity works favorably when simplification in one layer brings benefits in multiple layers in the system.

1. Userfriendly Interface

All interfaces and processes of online fees are userfriendly for parents, teachers, and administrators. The mobile app interface makes it easier for even non-technology savvy parents to pay fees with minimum training. The user experience design takes care of any possible errors that the parents can make while making fee payment online. The interface for administrators and institution owners are also simplified to view the fee collection details to check for information and other actions.

2. Easy to Implement & Master

With the plugin architecture of ERPs, it is very easy to implement a payment gateway in an institution. Other than the documentation required while taking a fresh payment gateway, there are technologically very few things to do outside inputting predetermined fields into the configuration window of payment gateway settings. Once implemented, it is very easy to learn and master as all popular payment gateways follow the same process to help users navigate between multiple payment gateways.

3. Simplified System

Once the payment gateway is implemented in the educational institution, it simplifies the entires system regarding fee collections which was distributed between multiple walls before. All reports are generated at a single location consolidating all activities.

4. Saves Time

The online fee payment and collection save time for parents and administrators. Along with time, it removes the travel costs associated with the earlier on-campus fee payment process. It saves time of students also which would have been spent on fee payment activities on the campus. The requirement of teachers to take care of the fee collections from their respective classes is also eliminated with the implementation of the online fee system.

5. Saves Storage & Paper

With the online fee system, the big files and papers associated with old methods of fee collection are no more required. This saves paper and storage space on the campus. There is no need to store receipt copies as the receipt is also generated and maintained online.

6. Automate Calculation

All the fee-related details like fine and discounts are auto-calculated and happen in real-time without the need of an administrator. This saves time for administrators

7. Fast payments

With digital payments, every payment is fast and instantaneous. As a result, the institution also gets the payment reflected immediately in their dashboard and in their bank account in one or two days.

8. Scalability

Due to the scalable nature of cloud technologies, the system can handle thousands of fee transactions happening at the same time. Especially on fee due dates, there will be hundreds of parents rushing to make fee payments. The system will autoscale to match to these spikes in demand.

9. Easily Customizable

The payment gateway configurations in the ERP allow customization to match to the unique fee structure of the institution. This customization stays independent of the default working algorithm of the payment gateway.

10. Safe & Secure

All payments made through the online fee system are safe and secure due to the encryption technologies engaged in the transactions. The fee system of a school or college works similar to the encryption systems used in online banking.

11. Enhanced Transparency

The online fee payment and collection system increase the transparency of the overall fee transactions and collections in the institution.

12. Reports & Analytics

Detailed reports and analytics are available for institution management and administrators to review the fee collection process and progress. Interesting trends and patterns can be observed in these reports and help with future decision making.

13. Data backup & Audit

Due to the digital nature of the system, the data backup is available all-time in case of any emergency. All fee transactions ever recorded are available in digital form in case required for audit in the future.

14. Notifications & Alerts

The frequent notifications and alerts to the users helps the institution in making sure that parents are informed well in advance and can expect most of the fee collection to happen on time. Parents are also helped by these notifications and alerts to stop them from forgetting important fee payment dates.

15. Available 24/7 from anywhere

The cloud technologies empowering the online fee payment and collection system makes the system available online 24/7 and from any location across the globe. This helps in fee collection irrespective of the location of the parent and allows last minute fee payments which are usually a case with busy parents.

16. Reduction in administrative cost

Due to the accomplished automation, all previous administrative costs in fee collection are brought down multifold in the form of fewer resources and less storage.

17. Integrations

The institution can integrate multiple enhancements with the fee collection system to help parents. This can be integration with loan providers or other fintech products available in the market that will be of interest to parents.

18. Forecastability

With the digital nature of all records associated with online fee collections, within a few months or years, the administrators and management can start making forecasts from the reports generated. This helps in better budget and cash planning.

Conclusion

As you have understood in this article, there are many benefits to managing school and college fees online. If properly implemented, an education ERP can work as the backbone for all your operational and academic activities. To know how we can help you in achieving your operational and academic goals, contact us today!

Perks to Manage School Fees Payment Online