COVID-19 has created a lot of uncertainty for families. As we inch closer to the start of the fall semester, families may still be having a difficult time deciding their child’s enrollment status at your school. If you have a family with a FACTS payment plan that is unsure if they’re attending your school this fall, here are some ways to help you manage their agreement.

Scenario 1: A family notified you that they’re still unsure if their child will attend your school this fall.

If tuition payments or fees are scheduled to begin processing and a family still doesn’t know if they’ll attend your school this fall, you may need to put their agreement on hold. Here are the steps to place an agreement in a hold status to temporarily stop payments from processing:

  1. Click Roster on the top navigation bar.
  2. Click Select next to the customer to be updated.
  3. Click Change Status in the Status column.
    -OR-
  4. Click Service Agreement.
  5. Select Change Agreement Status from the service options.
  6. Choose Inactive – Hold from the drop down menu.
  7. Send a notice of change email to the customer
    Note: This will default to selected if the customer has a valid email address on file. This option will not appear at all if the customer does not have a valid email address on file.
  8. Enter Comments if desired. Comments are displayed to you (the school) only and will not appear to the family.
  9. Click Apply to save the adjustment.

Important: Placing an agreement on hold will stop school payments from processing, but scheduled FACTS fees ( i.e., the enrollment fee) will continue to be processed. And, changes need to be posted two business days in advance of a scheduled automatic payment to stop it from processing.

Scenario 2: A family notified you that they are withdrawing their student from your school.

Some families have made the decision to home-school their children or move to a different school this fall. If they no longer owe your school payments, you can cancel their payment plan and stop future payments from processing. Here’s how to terminate an agreement and clear out a family balance so your cash flow reports remain accurate:

  1. Follow steps 1-5 from Scenario 1 above.
  2. Select Terminated from the drop-down menu.
  3. Choose yes or no to Clear Agreement Balance (does not appear if you are using Advanced Accounting).
    • If you choose to clear the balance, the system will apply credit(s) to offset the amount. The overall amount of charge transactions will remain the same.
    • If you prefer, you can add Correcting transactions to remove the remaining amount due.
    • If you do not clear the balance, the remaining amount will continue to show as balance due in customer reporting.
  4. Select a Reason for clearing the balance.
  5. Use the Description field to clarify your reason.
  6. Send a notice of change email to customer. This will default to selected if the customer has a valid email address on file. This option will not appear at all if the customer does not have a valid email address on file.
  7. Enter Comments if desired. Comments are only displayed to the school, not the family.
  8. Click Apply.

Scenario 3: A family asked you to hold their payments, but decided their child will attend your school after all.

If a family previously asked you to put their payment plan on hold but then decided they would be sending their child to your school, you can reactivate their agreement. Once an agreement has been made active, payments will resume as scheduled. You will be alerted to past due payments during this process and can decide how to schedule them.

  1. Begin with steps 1-5 from Scenario 1 above.
  2. Agreement Status: Select Active from the drop-down menu.
  3. Send notice of change e-mail to customer. This will default to selected if the customer has a valid email address on file. This option will not appear at all if the customer does not have a valid email address on file.
  4. Enter Comments if desired. Comments are not displayed to the family or captured in any reports.
  5. Click Apply to post the adjustment.

If you encounter a unique family scenario this fall that hasn’t been mentioned here, you can always reach out to a FACTS account manager. In this ever-changing environment, we’re eager to problem solve alongside you.