Start with the fee structure, not the payment link
Online payment only helps if every parent can see exactly what they owe. Write down each fee item for each class and term: tuition, levies, books, uniform, bus. Say which items are compulsory and which are optional.
Our fee-schedule template is a spreadsheet you can fill in for this. If a fee changes by class, give each class its own row.
Choose where the money lands
Know before you start who receives the money. The safest set-up is one where each payment settles straight into an account in the school's own name, and the software vendor never holds it. Ask any vendor in writing.
With EduPrefect, online payments go through Paystack and settle to your school's own verified Paystack subaccount, and EduPrefect does not hold your fees. A platform fee applies to online payments and is shown to the parent before they pay. Paystack's own charge is separate.
Give every payment a reference that finds its invoice
The slow part of cash and transfer collection is matching a payment to a child. Give each invoice a reference, and ask parents to pay against it. A system that creates an invoice per student per term and matches the payment to it saves the 9pm reconciliation.
Decide your rules for installments and discounts early
Many parents pay in parts. Decide how many installments you allow, on what dates, and what happens to a late installment. Decide whether siblings get a discount and how it is calculated. Write the rules on the fee schedule so the bursar and the parent read the same page.
- Number of installments and their dates
- Sibling discount rule
- What counts as late, and what follows
- How refunds and disputes are handled
Tell parents once, clearly, and keep the channel open
Send one message at the start of term with the amounts, the dates and how to pay. Name one person parents can ask. Keep bank transfer available for parents who cannot pay online, and record those payments in the same ledger so there is one list of who has paid.
Chase from a list, not from memory
Each week, pull the list of students with a balance, oldest first, and contact those parents. EduPrefect gives you a defaulter and ageing list for this. It does not send automatic fee reminders today, so the bursar or class teacher sends the reminder.
Reconcile on a schedule
Compare what the payment provider says was paid with what your ledger says, at least weekly. Differences are easiest to explain while the parent still remembers the payment. EduPrefect checks Paystack against your ledger every hour and alerts finance admins on drift.
Published 2026-10-13 and last updated 2026-10-13.