School fee collection system that chases arrears for you
Collection happens in bursts, a fortnight before exams. Set a target, run a campaign, and let rules and clearance cards do the chasing.
Enaton runs school fee collection for you. Set a collection target, run a campaign against it, and let your rules and clearance cards do the chasing. Parents see the exact amount to pay, pledges and plans are accepted, and every payment re-checks everything on its own.
Reminders, Term 2
Balances are live| Learner | Class | Billed | Paid | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Mutua | Grade 3 | 34,500 | 9,500 | Reminder queued |
| Brian Otieno | Grade 5 | 36,000 | 36,000 | Paid, skipped |
| Faith Chebet | Grade 7 | 40,000 | 31,000 | Reminder queued |
| Amina Hassan | Grade 8 | 42,000 | 42,000 | Cleared |
| Wanjiru Kamau | Grade 6 | 38,500 | 38,500 | Cleared |
- Kevin MutuaGrade 3KES 25,000
- Brian OtienoGrade 5Cleared
- Faith ChebetGrade 7KES 9,000
- Wanjiru KamauGrade 6Cleared
What it does
Enaton runs school fee collection for you. Set a collection target, run a campaign against it, and let your rules and clearance cards do the chasing. Parents see the exact amount to pay, pledges and plans are accepted, and every payment re-checks everything on its own.
Collection targets
- Set a target for the whole school, or by class and stream, or by fee category such as tuition, transport and meals, each tracked against its own goal
- Break a term target into weekly milestones, for example 30% by week 2 and 85% by the end of term, and be told when one is missed
- Give each target an owner, such as the deputy principal or a class teacher, with escalation to the director when the owner falls behind
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- See actual against target live, so nobody finds out at the end of term
Collection campaigns
A campaign is a focused push for a defined group before a deadline, for example everyone in Grade 6 more than half a term behind. It carries a target and its own notifications, and it sends inside your send window.
- The launch message and the reminders quote what each family owes at the moment they send
- A family that pays while the campaign runs drops out of it, and a family that meets the target gets a thank you
- Enaton warns you when two campaigns would reach the same families at the same time, so nobody is told two different things
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- When it finishes you can see what came in against it, rather than guessing whether it worked
Clearance cards
A clearance card gates one service, and the parent sees exactly what to pay to bring it back. The cards are the exam card, the report card, the transport card, the meals card, the library card and the admission card, and you can add your own, such as a swimming pool or a school trip.
- Active, warning (a grace period is running), disabled, overridden with a reason on record, or exempt for a bursary or a special arrangement
- A disabled card shows the parent the exact amount that brings it back
- When a parent pays enough, the card returns on its own and the confirmation goes out
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- An override is a person’s decision, recorded with their name and the reason, so a dispute is answered with facts
The rules engine
- Rules on a percentage of fees paid, on an amount owing, on time since the last payment, on a combination of these, on one fee category, or on debt carried across terms
- A grace period per rule, so the exam card might allow three days and the library card two weeks
- Schedule a rule for the weeks that matter, such as the fortnight before exams, with different rules for different terms
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- Start from a template such as day school or boarding school, then change the thresholds to suit you
Pledges and payment plans
- A parent can ask for a pledge or an instalment plan from the parent portal, and you approve it
- While a plan is on track the family is not chased and their cards stay active, even when the balance is high
- Overdue alerts when a pledge date passes, and a view of pledged against actually paid
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- Renegotiate mid term, with every change on record
Reminders that respect the family
- Every message carries the real balance as it stands when it sends, not a figure from a list drawn up days ago
- Quiet hours, so nobody gets a fee message at ten at night
- A family that owes nothing can never receive a demand, even by accident. That is built into how reminders work rather than a setting somebody has to remember
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- Reminders go by SMS, the parent portal and email, and name the learner and the exact amount
What the school sees
- Collection against target for the term, by class, by stream and by votehead
- Which families are drifting, early enough to talk to them rather than react
- How much of the outstanding balance is this term against carried forward, which are two different conversations
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- Which clearance cards and campaigns brought money in, and a record of every decision
See it
Term 2 collection target
Week 8 of 10Target owner: Deputy principal
| Class | Target | Collected | % | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 1,800,000 | 1,332,000 | 74% | Behind |
| Grade 5 | 2,100,000 | 1,806,000 | 86% | On track |
| Grade 6 | 2,400,000 | 2,208,000 | 92% | On track |
| Grade 7 | 2,300,000 | 1,978,000 | 86% | On track |
| Grade 8 | 2,400,000 | 2,160,000 | 90% | On track |
- Grade 31,332,000 of 1,800,00074%
- Grade 51,806,000 of 2,100,00086%
- Grade 62,208,000 of 2,400,00092%
- Grade 71,978,000 of 2,300,00086%
- Grade 82,160,000 of 2,400,00090%
Kevin MutuaGrade 3, Term 2
1 disabled- Exam cardPay KES 11,200 to restoreRule: 60% of term fees paidDisabled
- Transport cardGrace ends in 5 daysRule: transport balance over KES 5,000Warning
- Report cardAllowed by the principal, reason recordedOverride on fileOverridden
- Meals cardLunch fees are up to dateRule: lunch fees paidActive
- Library cardBursary learnerExempt from this ruleExempt
Every payment checks these cards again, so they come back on their own.
- Exam cardPay KES 11,200 to restoreDisabled
- Transport cardGrace ends in 5 daysWarning
- Report cardAllowed by the principal, reason recordedOverridden
- Meals cardLunch fees are up to dateActive
Leave the spreadsheets behind
Our own team moves your learners, balances and results across, with your records open on the table.
See how the move works- Learners and guardians
- Fee balances
- Past payments and results
What changes on Enaton
Before
- Collection happens in bursts, usually a fortnight before exams, done by a member of staff who has stopped doing their real work
- The list is pulled on Monday and the messages go out on Thursday, so parents who have already paid are chased anyway
- A clearance list printed yesterday turns a learner away whose parent paid this morning
- A parent who agreed to pay on the 30th is chased every week in the meantime, because nothing records the agreement
- A push before a deadline either worked or it did not, and nobody can say which
On Enaton
- A target and your rules score every learner continuously, so the picture is current rather than assembled the night before a meeting
- Every message works out the balance at the moment it sends, inside your send window and never during quiet hours
- Clearance cards are checked when a payment arrives, and they come back on their own when a family pays enough
- The parent asks for a plan from the portal, you approve it, and they are not chased while it is on track
- A campaign runs against a defined group, drops anyone who pays while it is running, and shows you what came in against it
Who it helps
-
Bursars stop spending Thursday afternoons sending messages and start running campaigns.
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Principals get a defensible answer when a parent says they were chased unfairly.
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Directors set the target, see the collection curve move week by week and approve pledges and plans.
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Parents see the exact amount to pay and can ask for a plan, which is the difference between a reminder and a threat.
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How it works
Set a collection target and your rules for who counts as behind
Run a campaign: reminders quote the balance at that moment
Clearance cards and pledges keep the family informed, not chased
When a parent pays enough, the cards return on their own
Read the full story
Chasing fees is a full time job nobody has
Every school knows what it is owed. Very few have anyone whose actual job is to go and get it. So collection happens in bursts, usually a fortnight before exams, usually by a member of staff who stops doing their real work to send messages one at a time.
And the messages are wrong. A list is pulled on Monday, the messages go out on Thursday, and by then some of those parents have paid. Being chased for money you already sent is the single fastest way to make a family feel the school does not know what it is doing, and it is completely avoidable.
Then there is the blunt instrument at the end of it: sending learners home. It works, it collects money, and it costs the school something in goodwill every single time.
How Enaton handles it
You set the goal and the rules once. A collection target says how much should be in, by when, and from whom. Rules say who counts as behind, by how much, and what happens then. Enaton applies them to every learner continuously, so the picture is current rather than assembled the night before a meeting.
Clearance cards carry the consequence in a way parents understand: the exam card, the report card, the transport card and more. A parent sees which card is affected and the exact amount that brings it back. When they pay, the cards are checked again on their own.
Reminders work out the balance at the moment they send. A parent who paid an hour ago is not in that batch. Over a term this is the difference between a school that looks organised and one that looks careless.
Related modules
- Fee management Enaton manages school fees from the structure to the receipt.
- Communication Enaton sends messages from inside the system that already knows who owes what, who is in which class and whose child was absent.
- Parent portal One account for a parent, covering every one of their children, even when those children are at different schools in the group.
Questions we get about this
What is the fee compliance and clearance engine?
It is how Enaton collects fees for you. You set collection targets and rules, run campaigns, and clearance cards for the exam, report card, transport, meals, library and admission respond to what each family has paid. Parents see the exact amount to pay, and every payment re-checks the cards on its own.
Will a parent who has paid still get a reminder?
No. Every message works out the balance at the moment it sends, so a parent who paid an hour earlier is not in that batch. This is the most common complaint about fee reminders and it is the first thing we fixed.
Can a parent with a zero balance ever be sent a demand?
No. It is not possible to send a family who owes nothing a message asking for money. That is a floor in how reminders work rather than a checkbox somebody has to remember to tick.
6 more questions
What is a clearance card?
A clearance card gates one school service, such as sitting exams, getting the report card, boarding the bus, lunch, the library or next term’s admission. It is active, in a warning period, disabled, overridden with a reason on record, or exempt. A disabled card shows the parent the exact amount that brings it back.
Can we stop a learner sitting exams over fees?
The school decides its own rules, such as the exam card needing 60% of the term’s fees paid, and Enaton applies them consistently. A grace period gives the parent warning first, and the card is checked again when a payment arrives, so a learner whose parent paid that morning is not turned away on the strength of an old list.
Can we set a collection target for the term?
Yes. Set a target for the whole school, a class or stream, or a fee category, break it into weekly milestones, and give it an owner. You see actual against target live, and the director is told when an owner falls behind.
What about a parent who needs a payment plan?
A parent can ask for a pledge or an instalment plan from the parent portal, and you approve it. While the plan is on track they are not chased and their cards stay active, and you can see which pledges are being kept and which are not.
Can we send reminders in the evening or on weekends?
You set the send window and the quiet hours. Most schools settle on weekday working hours, which gets a better response anyway.
How do we know a campaign actually worked?
You can see what was collected against it rather than guessing. That also tells you which message and which timing works for your parents, so the next one does better.
Bring your own numbers. We will show you this working
Thirty minutes with your classes, terms and fee structure. No slides.