School fees management, from the fee structure to the receipt

The problem with fees in a book

Most schools keep fees in two places at once: a ledger book for what was charged and a receipt book for what was paid. Neither of them can answer the question a head teacher actually asks, which is how much is outstanding for P5 this term, and from whom. Getting to that answer means adding up two books by hand, and the answer is out of date by the time it is written down.

School Lenzi keeps the charge and the payment in one place, so that question is a screen rather than an afternoon.

Billing a class in one go

You set a fee structure once for each class and term: tuition, lunch, boarding, whatever your school charges, each under its own heading. Applying it bills every learner enrolled in that class, and the ones who joined late are billed for what they were there for.

• Fee categories of your own naming, not a fixed list
• Different amounts per class, and per term
• One-off charges for a single learner, without disturbing the structure
• Bursaries and discounts, including ones that repeat every term

Taking money the way parents actually pay

Cash over the counter, mobile money, a bank deposit, or through SchoolPay if your school already collects that way. Each is recorded against the learner, with a receipt you can print or send.

A payment is spread across what the learner owes automatically. Anything left from an earlier term is cleared first, then this term's fees in the order your school sets, such as tuition before requirements before lunch. The bursar can still change the split at the counter when a parent asks, and anything paid beyond what is owed is kept as credit for the next bill.

Knowing where you stand

The question that matters is always some version of "who owes what". You can ask it of one learner, of a class, of a stream, or of the whole school:

• A learner's statement, showing every charge and every payment in order
• Outstanding fees by class, so a class teacher knows who to speak to
• Collections for a day, a week or a term, by method
• Collections by class, which is usually the first thing a director asks for

Money you can account for

This is the part most school systems leave out. Every bill, payment, discount and reversal posts to a real double entry ledger underneath. Fees are income, a payment moves money into a cash or bank account, and a bursary is recorded as one rather than quietly reducing a figure.

That means the fees you have collected and the accounts you report on are the same numbers, not two sets that have to be reconciled by hand at the end of term. It also means a trial balance that balances, and a reversal that leaves a trail instead of an edit nobody can see.