Fee structures, payment plans and instalments
Write each programme's fees for the year once, per intake, with semester-wise or full-year plans. Every student of that programme and intake gets the right dues, split into instalments with due dates.
PLANSFrom Growth
The problem it solves
- The fee chart for each programme sits in a spreadsheet, and the accounts office types each student's dues by hand.
- Students of the 2024 intake pay a different fee from this year's intake, and the office keeps track by memory.
- A student who pays the year at once expects a discount, and each clerk works it out differently.
- Every June the whole fee chart is typed again with the new rates.
How it works
- The accounts office writes a fee structure: the academic year, the programme's classes, and one line per fee head. For example B.Com, 2025 intake: Tuition Fee 48,000 and Exam Fee 3,000.
- Admission fee and caution deposit go on the same structure marked At Joining, so only students who join that year pay them.
- On the structure you add payment plans, such as Semester-wise and Full Year with 3% off. Generate Instalments splits each fee into instalments with due dates.
- You press Approve. Every student of those classes goes on the default plan and gets the year's dues at once.
- A student who joins late, changes programme or changes category gets the right structure by itself. A daily check also catches students moved to the next semester.
- Next year, Copy to Another Year makes the new structure with an increase percent, the dates moved on and the instalments made again.
Everything it does
Who a structure is for
- Academic year and one or more classes; for a college, the semesters of a programme and intake
- Joined In: only students who joined in these years, so earlier intakes keep the fee they joined with
- Admission Status: New and Existing, New Students or Existing Students
- Student Categories, such as Day Scholar, Hosteller or Management Quota; a student can be in more than one
- When several structures fit a student, the most specific one wins; two equally specific ones are refused at approval
Fees and joining charges
- One line per fee head with the yearly amount; the form shows Yearly Fees and Joining Charges
- Seeded fee heads include tuition, admission, application, caution deposit, exam, revaluation and industrial visit. Also hostel, transport, library fine, attendance fine and late fee. Rename or add your own
- At Joining lines are charged once, in full, only to students who join that year
- A student who already paid a joining charge never gets it again, also after a change of programme
- Exam fees, arrear paper fees, elective course fees, hostel, transport and trip fees reach the same fee account from their own parts
Payment plans
- Kinds: Full Year (one time), Semester-wise (two instalments, six months apart), Half-yearly, Term-wise, Quarterly, Monthly, or Custom instalments you write
- Discount % per plan, for example for paying the year at once; only on heads that allow concessions
- One plan is the default; students and parents may choose their plan on the portal or app until Plan Choice Closes
- Each instalment has a Block Date: its due date plus Block After (days)
- Change Plan on a student's fee plan re-plans only the unpaid instalments still to come, with the reason kept
Checks at approval
- A structure needs fees, at least one plan and instalments that add up to the yearly amount per head
- Back to Draft only while no student is on it; otherwise copy it, correct the copy and close the old one
- Update Fee Plans on a list of students puts them on the right structure at once
- Fee structures can come in from a spreadsheet during set-up
Charges from other parts of the college
- Elective course fees: per credit, per subject or both, charged when a seat is allotted (with choice based credits)
- Exam fee per student or per paper, and an arrear fee per paper for supplementary exams
- Attendance shortage fine in slabs by attendance percent, charged from the exam
- Each charge is an ordinary due: it shows on the statement, takes concessions where allowed and is paid at the counter or online
Who uses it
Accounts office head (fee Manager)Writes structures and plans, approves them and moves students to the right plan.
Principal or managementApproves fee structures as a level of the approval chain, if you add one.
AdministratorSets the student categories and gives people the Cashier or Manager role in Fees.
Student or parentSees the plan and the instalments, and chooses a payment plan while the college allows it.
Where you use it
- Web: Fees > Fees Setup (Fee Structures, Students' Fee Plans) and Fees > Configuration (Fee Heads, Student Categories)
- Web: the Fees tab on each student, with Fees Due, Fee Credit, the plans and the concessions
- Student and parent portal: the payment plan of the year and the choice of plan
- The Campus app: Fees > Plan and trips shows the same (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
- Not in the Campus app for staff: structures are written and approved on the web
What you control
Settings
- Block After (days) on each structure: 30 to start with
- Plan Choice Closes on each structure: empty, so nobody chooses and the default plan applies
- Default plan: the one you tick, or the first plan if none is ticked
- Concession Allowed on each fee head: on to start with; switch it off for deposits and fines
- Late fee rule on each structure, else the Entity's default rule
Approvals
- Fee structure: fee managers by default; pressing Approve sends a structure through the chain if you add levels such as the principal
Notifications
- New Fee Dues: when a year's dues are raised or a plan changes; one message per student, by push, WhatsApp, SMS, email and in-app
- These messages go to the father, mother and guardian to start with. Tick Student on the event in the notification settings so students who pay their own fees hear too
- Each person can switch off a channel, such as SMS, for themselves; the event itself cannot be switched off, and in-app notices always arrive
Questions
Can earlier intakes keep the fee they joined with?
Yes. Write one structure per intake and fill in Joined In. A student of the 2024 intake gets the 2024 structure, and this year's intake gets the new one.Can a student pay semester by semester?
Yes. Add a Semester-wise plan and make it the default. Generate Instalments makes two instalments, six months apart, each with its own due date.Do we have to type the fee chart again every year?
No. Open last year's structure, press Copy to Another Year, choose the classes and type an increase percent, such as 6. Check the draft and approve it.What happens to fees already paid when a student changes plan?
Nothing changes on what was paid. Only the unpaid instalments still to come are planned again on the new plan, and the change is kept in the plan's history.How are elective fees charged per credit?
With choice based credits, set Course Fees on the college to Per Credit and type the Fee per Credit. The fee is a due when the seat is allotted.Related features
FEESFee counter and receipts with a QR checkYour cashier picks a student, ticks the dues and takes cash, cheque, UPI, card or a bank transfer. The receipt carries a QR code that a bank or scholarship office can scan to check it. A bounced cheque opens the dues again.FEESConcessions and scholarshipsGive merit, need-based, management, staff-child and scholarship concessions per student, with approval. A scholarship paid by a sponsor cuts the student's due and gives the sponsor its own dues, which the cashier collects in one go.FEESDues, statements and online fee paymentStudents and parents see every due, receipt and the statement on the portal and the Campus app, and pay through your college's payment gateway. Applicants pay the application fee by a pay link, and receipts are made at once.CHOICE-BASED CREDITSElectives, registration and seat allotmentStudents rank their electives on the portal or the Campus app, and a mentor or head of department approves. Seats go by first come, merit, lottery or by hand. Clashing timetables are refused, and elective fees go to the fee account.ACROSS SMARTMY COLLEGEApproval chainsLeave, assignments, circulars, elective registrations, credit transfers, certificates, revaluations, fees, placement profiles and job notification forms go to the right people in the right order. You set the chains up without code. Every decision is kept with who made it, when and why.ADMISSIONS AND STUDENT RECORDSSet-up and import from spreadsheetsBring your college in from Excel: staff, departments, programmes, batches, semesters, sections, subjects and students with parents. Then the timetable, this year's attendance, fees, marks, credits and the library. The whole workbook is checked first, and nothing is saved until every row is clean.
See your own semester run in it.
Tell us how many students you have, which programmes you run, how you hold examinations and how electives are chosen today. We will show you SmartMy College set up that way.