03/27/08

Chapter 17-C

Fee Accounting Module

17-C-1 Fee Accounting

17-C-1.1 Introduction

The Fee Accounting Module is used to track assessment and payment of general, course and miscellaneous fees.

Three types of fees are tracked in the Fee Accounting Module:

 Type 1 (P303) - General Fees - These are fees assessed to everyone, or a specific group.

 Type 2 (P304)  - Course Fees - These are fees that are assigned to a course.  They can be for all sections or only specified sections.  There can be a different fee for each section.

 Type 3 (P316)  - Miscellaneous Fees – These are fees that are miscellaneous and can be charged to individual students.

The Fee Accounting module can be used to track assessments and payments of general, course, and miscellaneous student fees with utilizing proration tables and accounting codes.

There are a series of parameter screens that must be completed.  It is not necessary to complete all of the screens – only those that control whatever portion of the Fee Accounting System your school will be using.

When using the module to maintain assessments and payments, the FEES screen will keep an audit trail of all schedule changes involving courses with fees.  This screen is where any payments, refunds waivers of fees or additional Miscellaneous Fees are posted.

After the FEES screen is created, there are reports that can be produced to help with the daily office routine:  Invoices, Payment reports, Summary of activity report, etc. 

17-C-1.2 Fee Accounting Checklist

The following is a checklist of screens that must be completed to enable Fee Accounting to function properly.  Some of these screens are optional to be used only if they would be of benefit to your particular situation.

 Parameter Screens

Screen

 Reports

To produce a listing of specific information from the FEES and/or PAYS screens.

   Batch Jobs

 17-C-1.3 Overview

B125-Batch Creation of Student Fees is processed after scheduling has been completed for the applicable school year/term.

If you plan to use course fees, below is the correct sequence:

1.  Run the B105 to create class lists (junior and high schools)

     Run HOMECLIS to create class lists (elementary)

2.  Contact MDECA to set the Fee Switch to Y

3.  Run the B125 to create student fees based on fees defined on P303 and P304

If you do not use course fees, below is the correct sequence:

1.  Contact MDECA to set the Fee Switch to Y

2.  Run the  B125 to create student fees based on fees defined on P303  

The B125 is used to create student fee records based on fees defined in P303 and P304.  These fee records will be updated to a file called CSSFEES and can be displayed on the screen FEES for each student.  Miscellaneous fees can be added on FEES for each applicable student.  Once all fees have been added, fee receipts can be generated for each student using the R108 (Student Fee Collection List/Fee Receipt).  Additionally R110 (Student Fee Summary Report) can be produced to provide a summary of all fees assessed for the school year.

Fees will be automatically generated for students enrolled in school after the B105 (Set up Class List Records) has been run for the first reporting period in the new school year.  Whenever a student is enrolled or withdrawn from school, general fees will be debited or credited based on the proration code used for each fee, if applicable.  When a student enrolls or withdraws from a course, course fees will be debited and/or credited based on the proration code for each fee and the course start date, if applicable.  Please Note:  the proration starts from the first day of the TERM a course starts in. 

Payment information can be entered on FEES for each student who makes a payment.  Partial payments, full payments, fee waivers, and refund payments can be recorded.  The R111 (Student Fee Payment Report) can be generated to provide a detailed listing of all fee and payment information.  Optionally the R109 (Student Fee Detail Report) can be produced to provide a detail listing of all fee and payment information.  B126 can be processed to create a P149 version containing students with outstanding fees.  This P149 version can then be used in connection with various reports, including report cards.

If you do not want to use the full Fee Accounting Module, R108 can be used to forecast general and course fees for a school year.  R108 produces the report and prints the forecasted information but does not store the information within the system.

17-C-2 Preliminary Procedures
 

 17-C-2.1 Setting up Parameters for Fee Accounting Module
 

 17-C-2.1.1 P315 – Fee Proration Table

The P315 – Fee Proration Table is used to define proration rates, which are to be used in determining the amount to be refunded or charged whenever a student withdraws from school or a course or is admitted late to the school or the course.  Proration codes can be defined corresponding to each individual fee defined in P303 (General School Fees) and P304 (Class Fees). 

You can have up to 99 different proration codes tables defined in your system.  Each proration code table consists of ranges of weeks FROM and weeks TO and an associated proration rate.  If a student is admitted or withdrawn after the beginning of the school year, the amount of fees he will owe is determined by the number of weeks into the school year a student is coming in or withdrawing.  The number of weeks that each applicable course has been in session is determined based on the term start and end dates in the P105 (School Terms).

 P315 Proration Table Screen Sample

Data Fields:

Here a are a few examples of proration:

Fee: $20.00
Refund/Prorated fee: $15.00
Johnny withdraws from Biology in the fourth week of the course.  Based on the above proration table, Johnny will be refunded 75% of the amount of the fee originally assessed ($20.00 X 75%=$15.00)

Fee: $45.00
Refund/Prorated fee: $22.50
Dawn is admitted to Foods & Nutrition in the ninth week.  Based on the above proration table, Dawn will be charged a proration fee equal to 50% of the course fee ($45.00 X 50%=$22.50)

Fee: $18.00
Refund/Prorated fee: $18.00
Bill enrolled in school in the twelfth week.  All students are charged an $18.00 Student Government Fee.  As a proration rate is not defined for Week 12 in the above proration table, Bill will be charged the full fee of $18.00.
 

17-C-2.1.2 P317 – Accounting Codes (Optional)

Allocation codes are defined on P317-Accounting Codes.   This screen is optional.  These codes can be used for USAS receipt codes for reports for your treasurer.  The P317 converts the accounting code to an allocation code of up to 30 alphanumeric characters in length and stores it in the file CSSPAYS.  Using this code, payments from the SIS Fee Accounting Module can be cross-referenced with a third party accounting system through the use of the Report Writer (REPO).

Lists can be produced and sorted by account number within a date range that you specify on the P606.  This report is helpful for accounting of how much has been collected in fees for courses or grades.  It can give you an amount for your daily deposits.  

The Accounting Code should be entered in the appropriate column on the P303, P304, and P316.  The accounting codes can be set in any manner (alphanumeric) you want to use.

 Note:  Make sure that you have an account code for ‘prior year’s fees owed’.

P317 Accounting Codes Screen Sample

 Data Fields:

 

17-C-2.1.3 P303 – General School Fees

 Define the general school fees on P303 – General School Fees (Vol 2, I-3.3-1).  General school fees are (Type 1) of the three types of fees.  This number is assigned by the system and cannot be changed.  They will always print first on the FEES Screen.  These are fees that are to be assigned to students in your school.  The option to assign fees based on grade and/or sex is also provided.

Additionally, the P303 is used to define the proration codes that are to be used in determining refunds and general school fees for students who are admitted late or withdrew early from school.  There MUST be a proration code entered if new students are to be automatically entered.  Without codes, schedule changes such as drops and adds, or admissions and withdrawals will not reflect on the FEES Screen.  

 P303 General School Fees Screen Sample

Data Fields:

NOTE:  Fees will only be prorated for students who have a valid inactive or delete status in addition to a withdrawal date and code.

  17-C-2.1.4 P304 – Course Fees

Use P304 – Course Fees to define the course related fees that are to be assigned to students enrolled in the specified courses.  Course fees are (Type 2) of the three types of fees. 

Additionally the P304 is used to define the proration codes which are to be used in determining course fees and refunds for students who are admitted late, or withdrawn early from a class or classes.  They can be assigned to the course for all sections or particular section(s).  You MUST have at least one proration code assigned to a course in AD and WD if the schedule changes are to automatically update the FEES screen.

Each line can have it’s own proration code.  If you have more than one fee for the same course, each can be prorated individually

 P304 Class/Course Fees Screen Sample

Data Fields:

 17-C-2.1.5 P316 – Miscellaneous Fees

 Define miscellaneous fees that can be charged to a student on P316 – Miscellaneous Fees.  Miscellaneous fees are (Type 3) of the three types of fees.  Once defined, miscellaneous fees can then be entered for each applicable student, using the FEES – Student Fees screen.

 P316 Miscellaneous Fees Screen Sample

 Data Fields:

 Roll Methods for Fees:

Outstanding fees can be rolled over to the next school year using two different methods.  This procedure will be done when the summer cleanups are completed.

Method 1:  Sum outstanding balance to next year – This method sums together all of the credits and debits a student has and if the balance is greater than zero, one record will be entered in the fees file for next year as a miscellaneous fee.  All fees and all pays are taken into consideration and just one balance is added for the year instead of all the details.  If you choose this option, you must also make a P316 entry  (PREVIOUS YR FEE).   You must enter a code, text, and amount as seen on the P316 screen sample above.

Method 2:  Roll detail to next year – This method takes each detailed fee record and creates a fee record for next year with the outstanding balance of each fee including outstanding credits.  This method is helpful explaining the previous year's fees.  However the old detail records and any PAYS records will be deleted.  Therefore we feel that it's always more accurate to use the sum method when rolling fees.  However if you choose to use this method be aware the R108 (STUDENT FEE COLLECTION LIST/FEE RECEIPT) and R110 (STUDENT FEE SUMMARY REPORT) do not calculate outstanding credits.  Therefore these reports will indicate a student still owes fees even if their balance is zero on their FEES screen.  Nonetheless as a solution we suggest using the B126 to create a P149 version for student's whose balance is greater than zero $(.01 to 999.99) to use when running the R108 or R110.

With both methods - if a student is being purged from the system, or is in the highest grade level in that building and being moved to a new building, his/her fee records will be deleted regardless of whether they still owe fees or not.  Please feel free to contact MDECA, SIS Support with any questions concerning the rollover methods for fees.

17-C-2.1.6 P405 – Common Text for Student Fee Receipt

Use the P405 – Common text for Student Fee Receipt (Vol 2, I-4.5-1) to define the text to be optionally printed along the bottom of the R108 (Student Fee Receipt).

It is optional but a very good place to put a message of information on when, where, and how to make payments.

 P405 Common Text for Student Fee Receipt Screen Sample

Data Fields:

 17-C-2.1.7 P406 – Heading For Student Fee Receipt

Use the P406 – Heading for Student Fee Receipt (Vol 2, I-4.6-1) to define the heading to be printed on the R108 – Student Fee Receipt/Invoice.

P406 Heading for Student Fee Receipt Screen Sample

Data Fields:

17-C-2.1.8 P105 – School Terms

Enter the beginning month and day, and the ending month and day, of each term on the P105 – School Terms.  This is used by the Fee Accounting Module to calculate weeks in session for proration of fees.  You should not have a school year in the VALID TO YEAR field.

You can define up to four terms.  Schools on the semester system would have only two terms and schools with four quarters would define four terms.  Be sure to check the P105 screen and adjust accordingly.  If you intend to use the proration codes, this screen MUST be correct.

 P105 School Terms Screen Sample

Data FieldS:

 17-C-3 Batch Creation of Student Fees:

17-C-3.1 B125 – Batch Creation of Student Fees

The B125 – Batch Creation of Student Fees is used to create general (P303) and/or course (P304) related fees for the specified school year and term range.  B125 can be processed for the current school year for active students, or for an upcoming school year for both active and inactive students.  This batch job should be run AFTER all scheduling is complete and can be run as many times as necessary.  Re-running the B125 only adds new FEE records, it does not change or update existing FEE records.  

B125 Batch Creation of Student Fees Screen Sample

Data Fields: 

17-C-4 Maintaining Student Fee Information:
 

 17-C-4.1 FEES – Student Fees

The FEES screen is used in connection with the Fee Accounting Module to display and maintain fee information for each student attending the school.  B125 (Batch Creation of Student Fees), STUD (Student Master Record) and SCHE (Online Scheduler) will update fees from the P303 General School Fees and the P304 Course Fees to this screen.  The P316 Miscellaneous Fees are added manually as they pertain to the specific student.  FEES will also be updated whenever a student is added or withdrawn from a course or school using any one of the following screens: ADWD, CLIS, IMAD, IMMD, REQU or SLIS.

Their ID, or the name search feature can identify the students by using your Backspace key at the Student Id field and entering the student’s last name.  Once the student ID and school year have been entered, fee information will be displayed for the student.  

The FEES screen can be used to:

1. Display information relating to general, course and miscellaneous fees.

2. Add miscellaneous fees.

3. Record partial or full payments of fees.

4. Waive a fee.

5. Record a fee refunded.

6. Change payment information (reference number or amount)

7. Delete or correct payment information.

General and course fee records are updated by B125, STUD and SCHE and CANNOT be changed or deleted.  Miscellaneous fees can be added through this screen.  Once added, they CANNOT be changed or deleted.  To reverse a fee, the user MUST enter a payment type.

 There are four types of payments:

1. “R” Refund

2. “P” Paid

3. “W” Waiver

4. “D” Drop

 Even though the fee information cannot be deleted, the payment information can be deleted.  If you have entered the payment information incorrectly, it can be deleted and reentered correctly.  However Payment records with a payment type of “D” Drop (withdrawal) cannot be deleted.
 

Payments can be added corresponding to full or partial payment of fees outstanding.  When a payment is being added, it will prompt for F (Full) or P (Partial).  This refers to the entire balance due – not the individual line amount.  If F is entered, it will indicate the full invoice has been paid and it will allow the user to simply enter the payment date and reference number, and the screen will automatically generate payment records for each outstanding fee.  P will prompt for the line to change, which indicates a partial payment has been paid and will allow the user to enter payment records for selected fees.

 17-C-4.2 Print Screen Functions from FEES Screen:

Another option on the FEES screen is the ability to print individual student fee invoices directly from the screen to a slaved printer.  To produce a print screen of the student’s fees, the operator must first display the student’s fee information.  Once the fee information has been displayed, type PRINT on the command line or press CTRL/P anywhere on the screen and a print screen Student Fee Invoice will be produced.  If the student’s fee information overflows onto subsequent screens, type PRINT/FULL at the command line to produce a full printout of the Student Fee Invoice.

 17-C-4.3 Accessing the Fees Screen:

 FEES Student Fees Screen Sample

 To access the FEES screen simply Enter D FEES and <Enter>.  The FEES screen will be displayed and you will be prompted for: 

Fee types are:

1.      General Fees

2.      Course Fees

3.      Miscellaneous Fees 

The following four fields contain information pertaining to payments which have been made corresponding to the above fees.

P - Received cash or check from the student in partial or full payment of fee.

W - Full or partial amount of fee is to be waived.

D - This payment type is automatically updated by the system whenever a student withdraws from a specific course or from school and prorations are defined.

R - Issued a refund of money owed to the student.

NOTE:  Always make sure your Caps Lock is on, because some of the fields in FEES will not accept lower case letters.

17-C-4.4 Adding Miscellaneous Fees – (Optional)

 Follow the steps below to add miscellaneous fees to a student’s fees.

1.      Make sure you have your Miscellaneous fee codes set up on the P316.

2.      Enter “A FEES” and select the student you wish to add miscellaneous fees to.

3.      At the “ADD FEE OR PAYMENT (F/P):” prompt, select “F”.  The cursor will move to the first line and a #3 will appear in the FEE column.  This indicates that you are adding a miscellaneous fee.  This is the only type of fee that can be manually added to the FEES screen.

4.      At the cursor, enter a valid miscellaneous fee code from the P316. The fee description will be displayed.

5.      Enter the date the fee is assigned, or return to accept the default date.

6.      Enter the fee amount or return to accept the default.  The default fee amount can be overridden by entering a different fee amount.

7.      At the “Enter Field number to change:” prompt, enter 6 (this field is not the actual line number of the fee), use error keys to move to the field you want to change.  If nothing is to be changed on the fee record that you have just added, return and it will be posted.
 

17-C-4.5 Adding a Full Payment:

 Use the following steps to add a full payment to a student’s FEES screen:

1.       Enter “A FEES” and select the student that you wish to add payments to.

2.       At the prompt “ADD FEES or PAYMENTS (F/P):” enter “P”.

3.       Next you will be prompted for “ADD FULL OR PARTIAL PAYMENTS (F/P):” enter “F”.   

4.       Enter a Reference Number (i.e. up to 6 alphanumeric characters to indicate a credit memo #, check #, etc.)  Leave this blank if you do not wish to store a reference number corresponding to the payment.

5.       Enter a payment date or return to accept the default date.

 17-C-4.6 Adding a Partial Payment/Waiver/Refund:

 Follow these steps to add a partial payment to a student’s FEES screen:

 1.       Enter “A FEES” and select the student that you wish to add payments to.

2.       Enter “P” at the “ADD FEES OR PAYMENT” prompt.

3.       Enter “P” at the “FULL OR PARTIAL PAYMENT” prompt.

4.       Next you will be prompted for the “Amount of partial payment:” If you are making a payment for MORE than ONE fee, enter the TOTAL amount you are paying, not individual fee amounts.

5.       “Enter line number of the fee:” you wish to process a payment for.  Once a fee is selected, a line will open up under that fee and you will be prompted for the date, or <enter> to accept the default date.

6.       Enter a reference number if desired.

7.       At the payment type prompt, valid responses are P, W, or R.

8.       The fee balance will be displayed in the amount column.  You can return to post the total amount owed for that particular fee, or enter the amount being paid towards that fee.  The system will NOT allow you to enter MORE than what is OWED on a fee.  It will also NOT let you post TWO payments with the SAME date to the same fee.

9.       Once the payment amount is entered, press <enter> at the “Enter Field Number To Change” to prompt “Enter line number of fee”, enter the line number of the next fee to process payment for, or if not more, then press <enter>.

10.            At “Save Partial Payment (Y/N):” enter “Y” to save the payments made or “N” if you notice the information you have entered is incorrect.  If “N” is entered, no payments will be posted. 

 17-C-4.7 Deleting/Correcting Payments:

To delete or correct an incorrect payment for a student, you will need to do the following:

1. Enter “DE FEES” and display the student’s fee screen.

2. “Enter line number of payment:” you wish to delete/correct.  Once a fee is selected, the entire payment line is highlighted.

3. At the “Delete this Record (Y/N):” prompt enter “Y” to delete the entire payment line, or “N” to override the delete.

4. At the “Enter line number of payment:” you may enter another payment line number if you have additional deletions, or if not more, then press <enter>.

5. At this point you can ADD the correct payment type/method or leave screen as it is. 

17-C-4.8 Withdrawing A Student:

When you withdraw a student using SCHE, an adjustment entry is automatically posted for each course and general fee that the student has on their FEES screen.  The amount of the adjustment depends on whether the school is using the proration codes.  If proration tables ARE in use, the fee adjustment will be made based on the number of weeks the student was enrolled in each course.  This is determined by using the withdrawal date and the first day of school defined on P105 to calculate the number of elapsed weeks. 

If a student withdraws within 0-6 days after school begins, then no weeks have been completed and a full refund will be made.  If proration tables are NOT in use, the full amount of the fee will be credited upon withdrawal.  Internal status for that fee will be changed to a “D” and no drop payment record will be added to the FEES screen.  Prior to the first day of school, any student that withdraws or switches from one course to another, drop payment records will automatically be posted to the student’s fee screen.

 17-C-4.9 Posting Refunds:

If a student has payments posted to their fees at the time of withdrawal, it is possible that the school will owe this student a refund.  If a refund is OWED to a student it will show up on the FEES screen as a NEGATIVE balance.

 FEES Sample Screen with Credit balance

There are two options for entering a refund, (Full or Partial). 

To enter a partial refund for this student, you will need to do the following:

1. Enter “A FEES” and display the student’s fee screen.  You will notice the negative balance in the “Balance” field at the bottom of the screen.

2. At the “ADD FEES OR PAYMENTS (F/P):” prompt enter “P”

3. At the “ADD FULL OR PARTIAL PAYMENTS (F/P):” prompt enter “P”

4. At the “AMOUNT OF PARTIAL PAYMENT:” prompt, enter the amount of Partial payment to the student as a NEGATIVE entry without the decimal. (-7900)

5. At the “Enter line number of fee:” prompt, enter the line number to which the refund applies.  An entry MUST be made to zero out the balance of EACH fee.  When a fee is selected, a line will open under that fee and the Date, Reference number, Payment type of “R”, and Amount to be credited will appear.

6. Once you have entered all your refund payments to all fees, press return at the prompt “ENTER LINE NUMBER TO CHANGE:” press <enter>.

7. Enter “Y” to “SAVE PARTIAL PAYMENT (Y/N):” This will post the entries you have just made.

To enter a full refund for this student, you will need to do the following:

1. Enter “A FEES” and display the student’s FEES screen.  You will notice the negative balance in the “Balance” field at the bottom of the screen.

2. At the “ADD FEES OR PAYMENTS (F/P):” prompt, enter “P”.

3. At the “ADD FULL OR PARTIAL PAYMENTS (F/P):” prompt, enter “F”.

4. You will not be prompted to enter a payment amount since you are giving a full refund.

5. Enter a Reference number at the “REFERENCE” prompt, if desired.  This could be the check number for the refund, or CASH, if cash is paid to the student

6. Enter the date of the refund at the “DATE” prompt.  This date will be used on each refund payment entry posted.

7. The screen will refresh and payments will be displayed for each fee, which a refunded amount was made.  Refund payments will be displayed with an “R” in the payment type field.  The Balance field should be zero after the refund has been posted.
    

 17-C-5 B126 – Batch Creation of Student ID Table – Optional 

B126 – Batch Creation of Student ID Table (Vol 2, SR-4.3-1) is used to create a version of P149 (Student ID Table) based on students who have outstanding fees within a specified range.  Once created, this version of P149 can be used to select students in connection with various reports and/or batch jobs.

B126 Batch Creation of Student ID Table (P149) Requesting Screen Sample

On the requesting screen, at the grade range fields, enter the range of grades to be included or leave blank to include all students regardless of grade.  Homerooms may also be left blank to include all students regardless of homeroom.  In the Fee Balance range, enter a range to indicate the amount of money a student must have outstanding to be included in the P149 version specified.  Enter up to five digits without the decimal point.  Leave this range blank to include all students regardless of the amount of money they have outstanding.

Once a P149 table has been created using the B126, it can be used with any report requesting information for students on the P149 for processing.

If you are creating a P149 table to determine what students you need to hold report cards for because they owe fees, you could create one P149 version for student’s who have outstanding fees and another P149 version for students who have 0 or credit balances.  The report card (R700) could then be run in two passes – one with students owing fees and one for those who do not.

17-C-6 Fee Reports
 

17-C-6.1 R108 – Student Fee Collection List/Fee Receipt

R108 – Student Fee Collection List/Fee Receipt (Vol 2, SR-4.4-1) generates a Fee Collection List to be used as an aid by the school in collecting general and course related fees.  In addition, it can be used to generate fee receipts, which can be handed out to each applicable student.  This report can be generated regardless of whether or not you are using the Fee Accounting Module.  If you are using Fee Accounting and have created fee records using the B125, all fees in the FEES file, including Miscellaneous Fees will be automatically included on the report corresponding to the student.  Also, R108 can be run at anytime during the school year to show what a student still owes on his fees.

 R108 Student Fee Collection List Requesting Screen