The Student Folder is used to add, modify, delete and manage all important information about your students. Every student in your school will have their own folder regardless of their student type such as full-time, part-time, or drop-in.
To access the Student Folder, click on Families, then Student Folder, or click on the Student Icon on the main toolbar.
As discussed in the chapter Introduction to FrontDesk Manager, the Student Folder contains the same look and feel as all other SchoolLeader folders. When you first bring up the Student Folder, it will automatically display the COVER information for all Attending Students. If you need to display information about a non-attending child, then simply click on the down arrow next to 'attending students', and select the category of students you'd like to display. SchoolLeader refers to this as a folder filter, and is used to minimize the amount of data that is to be displayed in the 'VIEW STUDENT list'.
The folder filters for the Student Folder are:
All Students - every student entered into SchoolLeader will be displayed under 'View Student'
Attending Students - students currently enrolled and started will be displayed under 'View Student'
Disenrolled Students - students marked as disenrolled will be displayed under 'View Student'
Waiting List Students - students who are on your waiting list will be displayed under 'View Student'.
Prospective Students - students whose guardians have indicated an interest in your school but have not actually enrolled their child will be displayed under 'View Student'.
Suspended Students - students who are still enrolled but have been temporarily suspended with a suspension date on the Enrollment Tab
Prestart
Students - Students enrolled and scheduled with a start date that
is in the future. In
other words, a student scheduled to start next week is considered a prestart
student.
Once you select the filter, then click on the down arrow next to View Student, and the appropriate names will be displayed. Remember that you can also position to the students name faster by typing in the first few letters of the student's last name. SchoolLeader will preposition the list to the first name that begins with those letters.
This "Type Searching" feature mentioned above is available with most dropdowns. If the list is long and difficult to scan, try typing the first few letters of what you are looking for to position the list closer to your choice.
Like all SchoolLeader folders, the Student Folder organizes and displays data within 'tabs' accessible from the bottom of the Student Folder. By clicking on a tab, you will gain access to specific information for the selected student. The Student Folder tabs are:
The <<COVER>> tab is the primary tab for the Student Folder. From the COVER, you can Add and Delete students, as well as display the primary information about each student such as name, birth date, age, etc.
The COVER also displays various student Status/Alert icons along the bottom to provide you with a quick visual overview of the students' current status. Double click on them and you will be brought to the effected section in SchoolLeader. In other words, click on the red flashing "Fee-Override Alert" light and you will be brought to the Fees tab where this student has overrides.
Four Student Alert lights provide a quick visual to some important conditions related to each student in your school. These conditions and their status are:
Medical Notes
Green - No special
Medical or Allergy notes exist for this student.
Red Flashing - Special Medical or Allergy notes exist for this student.
Go to the "Medical" tab to view the notes
Relation Notes
Green - No special
Relationship notes exist for this student.
Red Flashing - Special Relationship notes exist for this student.
Go to the "Relations" tab to view the notes
Outside School (Transportation) Notes
Green - No special
drop off or pick up Transportation notes exist for this student.
Red Flashing - Special Transportation notes exist for this student.
Go to the "Outside School" tab to view the notes
Fee-Override Alert
Green - No Fee
overrides have been applied to any of this student's fees.
Red Flashing - At least one fee override has been applied to this
students fees. Go to the "Fees" tab to view the current fee
definitions.
Five status lights are displayed along the bottom of the COVER tab. These lights provide a quick visual to some important conditions related to each student in your school. These conditions and their status are:
Enrollment
Green - Current student is ACTIVE. They have a Start Date that occurs before or during the current Accounting Period AND their disenrollment date (if any) occurs after the current Accounting Period.
Yellow - Current student is ENROLLED but not STARTED. They have a Start Date that occurs after the end of the current Accounting Period.
Red - Current student is NOT ENROLLED or the student is DISENROLLED. They have a Start Date that occurs after the end of the current Accounting Period OR their disenrollment Date occurs before or during the current Accounting Period.
Forms on File
Green - Current student complies to all Form requirements as they are defined in the Student Form Definitions window.
Yellow - Current student complies to all Form requirements but one or more form will be expiring in the next 30 days.
Red - Current student does NOT comply with at least one Form requirement
Vaccinations
Green - Current students has no overdue vaccinations based on the Vaccination Schedule.
Yellow - Current student complies to all vaccination requirements but one or more vaccine will be due in the next 30 days.
Red - Current student has one or more overdue vaccinations.
Class Placement
Green - Current student is assigned to the age appropriate classroom based on the Classroom Folder definitions for each classroom.
Yellow - Current student does NOT comply with the age definitions for the classroom but is within 3 months of the minimum and maximums.
Red - Current student does NOT comply with the age definitions for the classroom and is more than 3 months beyond the minimum and maximums.
Primary Guardian
Green
- Current student has a Primary Guardian assigned to them.
Red - Current student does NOT have a Primary Guardian assigned
to them.
To add a new Student, click on the NEW STUDENT button. SchoolLeader will position a blinking cursor to the Student's last name and you can begin entering data
To modify an existing student's information, simply select the student from VIEW STUDENT dropdown. Type over the information you want changed, then click the SAVE button.
To delete a student, select the student's name, and click on the DELETE key. You will be prompted to confirm the deletion. You cannot undo this action so be certain of your decision before you press OK.
Full name of student. This name that will be displayed in all reports and internally when referencing students. SchoolLeader will automatically capitalize the first letter of the last name and first name.
Try to avoid using special characters like hyphens and accent marks. It can make it more difficult to 'type search' for the name in the future and may trip up some reporting functions.
Identifies the assigned unique ID number for this student. Student ID's are assigned automatically by SchoolLeader but can be changed by pressing the CHANGE button to the right of the field. Normally, the ID number is irrelevant to your operations. However, if you have other systems (e.g. Payroll System, etc.) which also have assigned ID number, then synchronizing the value across the different systems can sometimes have value.
Male or Female
.
This optional field can be useful if you interact with government agencies for subsidies. Leave it blank if there is no need for it.
Indicate by checking the box whether or not this is a Title XX (Title 20) student. This optional field can be useful if you interact with government agencies for subsidies. Leave it blank if there is no need for it
Student Birthdate is critical to many functions within SchoolLeader. Be sure to enter this date accurately.
Refer to 3.1 The Basics: Using the FrontDesk Calendar Effectively, to learn how to use the SchoolLeader calendar dropdown
.
SchoolLeader automatically calculates the student's current age based on the current date on your PC system clock. The information is displayed here for your reference and is used by several reports and functions
.
Select whether this student is full-time, part-time, drop-in, or Other. These indicators are used in many places throughout SchoolLeader to group information for reporting.
If you need to track a student's race type, then select the race type from the list. You created this list in Chapter 3.2 Definitions Setup: Define Race Types.
If you need to track a student's grouping, then select the group from the list. Student Groups are used to capture enrollment totals by defined groups, so that you can determine how many students of each group you have enrolled at your school. The student groups would need to be predefined by you before you can choose them here. See the section in this chapter titled "Student Groups" to learn more.
Click on the SAVE button after completing the Student Cover tab. SchoolLeader will perform automatic saves periodically during processing. For example, moving to another window will force changes on the current window to be saved. You cannot prevent these "forced" saves.
Pressing the "Cancel" or "Undo" buttons will abort your changes and erase the new entry.
Once the COVER information is filled in, you can start entering data into the other Student Folder tabs. The Enrollment tab contains all information related to the enrollment and disenrollment for the selected student. Many of the dates on this tab are vital to controlling other processes within SchoolLeader. Items such as Classroom Rosters, CheckPoint Station, and Enrollment Waiting Lists, are driven by these dates. It is important to ensure that this information is accurate.
SchoolLeader uses several different dates and indicators, in conjunction with each other, to determine a student's enrollment status for you. Below is a detailed explanation of each of these values and how you can use them to manage your student population..
The registration date can be thought of as the date that the registration material was received. It is the first date of contact you might have with this student (and their family). In many cases, this might also be the same date as the enrollment date if the student was registered and enrolled on the same date. This date may also reflect the date that you received a Waiting List fee (if applicable) because their was no available openings to allow enrollment. This date is mandatory for all students. You cannot have a Student in the database without being registered.
Use this optional date to record the date that you gave this students family a tour of your school. In general, this can be considered the date you presented your offerings to this potential customer. There is a Tour Date analysis report that can help you track the effectiveness of your tours in relation to the percentage of students who ultimately enroll. This field can be left blank if not needed.
Use this field to record the date that you enrolled the student and assigned them to a classroom. Once enrolled, the student is automatically removed from the Waiting List (if applicable). However, they will still not display on most reports at this point. They are still not considered an active student.
The Started Date reflects the first day of attendance at the school. SchoolLeader uses the Started Date to determine if the student is actively attending. This can be entered as a future date and the student will still not be considered active, however, once the date passes, the student is immediately considered active and is billed, displayed on classroom rosters, displayed on CheckPoint Station, etc. This is an important date that must be set accurately.
The Disenrolled Date reflects the student's last day of attendance at the school. This can be entered as a future date and the student will still be considered active, however, once the date passes, this student is considered inactive and all billing, and reporting ceases for them.
Type in who approved the disenrollment. You must enter something in this box for the disenrollment to take effect. Usually it is the name or initials of the person authorizing the disenrollment.
Define the reason this student was disenrolled. You can select one option from the list. Also, you have the option of selecting a CheckBox titled "Eligible for Re-Enrollment". This checkbox can be used as a reminder not to allow a student back into the school in the event they were disenrolled for irreconcilable differences.
Record any enrollment or disenrollment comments or notes associated with this student.
Sometimes you will want to suspend billing and reporting for a student without disenrolling them. This can occur if a student is going on a long vacation, or is stopping for 2 months for summer break. The advantage of using the suspension dates is that you can set the end date up front. When the end date arrives, SchoolLeader will automatically reactivate them, display them on classroom rosters, and begin the billing again.
Use this section to record the start requirements only if a student falls into one of two categories:
Students who cannot be currently enrolled because there are no openings in the classroom (student needs to be placed on the waiting list). If a student needs to be placed on the waiting list, then you need to select the Start Requirement as either ASAP, or by a certain date. You can use the 'by certain date' for women who are expecting a child and want to be considered for an opening sometime in the future.
If the student does not fall into one of these 2 categories, then do not enter information into the Start Requirement section.
You can enter information into the Start Requirement section only when the Started Date is not checked and filled in with a date. As soon as the Start Date is checked and filled in with a date, the Start Requirements section becomes 'grayed out'. The three options for Start Requirements are as follows:
ASAP
- Student needs an available opening as soon as possible.
By Date - Student needs an enrollment in the future
Prospective Student / Uncertain - Student and their family inquired
about the school but did not register or put down a deposit for enrollment.
This information can be valuable for solicitation and marketing purposes.
This information is vital to the Enrollment Waiting List process and is used to help you organize and manage the waiting list process.
When looking at all the reports in SchoolLeader, take note of the Enrollment Renewal Letter. SchoolLeader will produce a letter to the primary guardian letting them know that their child's re-enrollment is approaching. You can define the opening and closing paragraph of the enrollment renewal letter, and SchoolLeader will fill in the body of the letter with the students' names who are re-enrolling.
To define the opening and closing paragraphs of the Enrollment letter:
Click on Reporting
Click on Form Letters
Click on Built in Form Letters
Click on Enrollment Letter
You may now begin typing in your opening and closing paragraph. Click on SAVE when you are done. SchoolLeader will take care of addressing the letter to the primary guardian, based on the address information that is in the system.
Once you've defined you enrollment renewal paragraphs, you can produce the Enrollment Renewal Letter:
From the top tool bar, click on Reporting, then Central Report Manager
Double click on Students
Double click on Enrollment
Double click on Enrollment Renewal Letter. Enter the date range (can be a future date, which will allow you to inform guardians of future re-enrollments).
An individual letter will be produced for each primary guardian. If they have multiple students in one family, then all students will appear within the same letter.
Now you can print the letter out on your school letterhead.
This tab allows you to define the classroom assignments and schedule for each student. You have the ability to assign two different classrooms for each student, one primary and one secondary. Assigning a secondary classroom/schedule is optional.
The primary classroom should be used to identify the room where the student spends the majority of his/her time. A secondary classroom can also be defined for those instances where a child regularly relocates to a different location during the day. This can be useful if you typically combine separate pre-school classes into a single class late in the afternoon when attendance tends to drop, or early in the morning before the actual classes begin.
The Schedule tab also allows you to define the student's weekly schedule. The weekly schedule is used by:
numerous reports such as the classroom rosters and transportation logs
Select the appropriate primary classroom assignment by clicking on the down arrow next to the primary box. These are the classrooms you defined while Setting Up School Functions: Defining Classrooms. SchoolLeader has already selected a primary classroom based on the student's age, but you must verify that the appropriate classroom is selected.
Enter the student's schedule by checking or un-checking the displayed days. The default times displayed are what you entered in the Definitions Setup: Configurations Settings. SchoolLeader will use this schedule to determine early drop off charges and late pick up charges if requested to do so. CheckPoint Station uses this schedule to determine whether or not a guardian can sign in the student. Early sign in can be blocked if you've chosen this option in Configurations Settings.
The blue arrow button located to the right of the SUNDAY checkbox allows you to duplicate the Sunday schedule for the reset of the week. This is useful when most students attend full-time and most students attend the same times each day. Using this feature will eliminate the effort of repetitively entering the same schedule for the entire week.
Select this student's Secondary Classroom as well as the scheduled days and time that they are expected to be present. This is an optional assignment and in most cases will not be used.
The two buttons labeled "Set Defaults" act differently for the Primary Classroom and Secondary Classroom.
For the primary classroom the "Set Defaults" button will schedule the student for each day (full-time) and set their start and end times to be the same as the schools start and end times defined in the Configuration Settings.
For the secondary classroom the "Set Defaults" button will set the classroom to 'no class assignment' and remove all secondary schedule information.
This tab enables you to define the relationships between students and their guardians. There is an identical tab with these same functions in the Guardian Folder. In the Student Folder Relations tab, you define the relationship between this Student and all of the adults (guardians) that are responsible for this student. This can include family members as well as any other guardian that is associated with the student (friends, neighbors, etc). When creating relationships between students and guardians, keep these concepts in mind;
In SchoolLeader, a family is simply a collection of students and guardians linked together by relationships. There are no limits to the number of guardians a student can have. This includes an unlimited number of parents, step-parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, neighbors, etc.
The student name does not have to match any of the guardian names, or vice versa.
Each student will have one and only one Primary Guardian. The primary guardian is the person financially responsible for the student's account. A primary guardian can be any adult financially responsible for the students charges, and does not have to be a parent or step-parent. Even if a mom and dad appear happily married, you must choose one of the guardians to be the primary guardian.
Each student and guardian actually have their own folder, so their information is entered once into the system. For example; a guardian (e.g. parent) of one child can also be an emergency contact for another families child. The guardian is entered once when creating their folder, and then that folder is linked to the two students
A guardian's information can be added, modified and deleted directly from the Guardian Folder or this Student Folder - Relations tab. In this chapter, we will discuss entering guardian information from the Student Folder.
During initial setup you will need to enter the guardian information for each student as well. The student and guardian information is actually kept separate and linked by the information you define here on the relations tab. Creating your guardian folders can be accomplished one of two ways:
Family Setup Wizard -- by clicking on the Family Wizard button located along top of the student folder (or from the main menu), the Family Setup Wizard window will open and give you the ability to quickly collect basic information about the family guardians and create Guardian Folders for each. There is more information that can be stored about each guardian, however, the wizard will leave those fields blank and focus only on the key information such as contact info..
by clicking on the "View Guardian" button to the right of the relations grid, you can jump directly to the Gaurdian Folder and begin creating your own Guardian Folders for each Guardian. Details on how to enter guardian information directly into the guardian folders is discussed in this same chapter under the section titled Guardian Folders.
Regardless of which method you use, once the guardians are created, you can assign the relationships between the various guardians and students using the buttons on this tab.
Click on the ADD/MODIFY button (on right hand side of window) to add or modify the relationship between the student and guardian. You can also double click on the guardian's name to review or modify the relationship. Either way, this window will be displayed.
The first decision to make is whether you want to use an existing Guardian (someone who already has a Guardian Folder created) or create a new Guardian at the same time you build the relationship. Choosing "Add a new Guardian to SchoolLeader" will allow you to define basic information about the guardian on this screen so SchoolLeader can create a Guardian Folder for this person before assigning their relationship to the student. In many ways, it functions like a mini Family Setup Wizard because it automatically creates Guardian Folders for you from the basic information you enter here.
If you are trying to create a relationship for a guardian who already exists in SchoolLeader, select "Use an existing Guardian". A dropdown box will appear presenting you with a list of all eligible guardians. Select the appropriate one, define the relationship conditions, and press save.
Most fields are self explanatory, however, take note of the three checkboxes in the Relationship Definitions box.
Primary Guardian -- is a special designation. Only one guardian can be the primary for any particular student. The "primary" guardian is considered the financially responsible guardian. They are given a payment account and will receive any bills associated with the students enrollment at your school.
Permitted to Pickup -- causes this guardian to display on the CheckPoint station for signin and signout. Without this being checked, the guardian will not be able to login at CheckPoint.
Legal Guardian -- designates this user as someone who has a right to see and access all documentation on file for this student. Also, guardians with this designation will be able to see account balance information on CheckPoint Station.
Emergency Contact -- causes this guardian to display on Emergency Contact reports for callout.
To remove a guardian relationship from the Student Folder, click on the guardian's name, and then click REMOVE. This does not remove the guardian from SchoolLeader, just the relationship between this student and guardian.
If you want to jump directly to a guardian's folder, you can click once on the guardian's name and then click on VIEW GUARDIAN in the lower right hand corner of the relations tab.
There are four push buttons located below the guardian names. Only one can be pressed at any time and the active button is always indicated in yellow. Each button provides a list of guardians which fall into the appropriate category:
Parent or Primary Guardian - Any guardian who is associated with this student and has a relationship type of "Parent", "Step-Parent", or is a primary guardian.
Permitted to Pickup - Any guardian who is associated with this student and has the "Permitted to Pickup" indicator checked on the relationship window
Emergency Contact - Any Guardian who is associated with this Student and has the "Emergency Contact" indicator checked on the relationship window
This box allows you to type any important information regarding the relationships for this student. It can be useful for documenting custody cases and restrictions for pickup.
Any notes recorded in this box will cause the "Relation Notes" Alert button to flash on the student folder cover.
If you need to change the Primary Guardian for a Student:
If the guardian does not already exist in SchoolLeader, enter the new Primary Guardian's information using the Family Setup Wizard or by entering the guardian information directly into the Guardian Folder.
From the Student Folder Relations tab, click on ADD/MODIFY and define the relationship between the Student and the NEW Primary Guardian. Do NOT yet define this new guardian as the primary guardian, however select all of the other relationship information, such as Parent, authorized to pick up, emergency contact.
From the Student Folder Relations tab, click once on the OLD primary guardian's name, then click on REMOVE. SchoolLeader will prompt you to select the NEW primary guardian. Select the new primary guardian's name from the list, then click on OK. SchoolLeader will automatically move any balance information form the old primary guardian's account to the new primary guardian's account, during the book close process.
This tab allows you to define the fees and discounts associated with the student. This can include recurring fees such as weekly tuition, and/or attendance based fees such as early drop off and late pickup. If you need to have a fee or discount applied to an entire family, then that fee/discount must be entered into the Primary Guardian's Fees Tab. Fees and discounts entered in the student folder only apply to the particular student.
It is important to understand that the students have fees and discounts, but the primary guardian receives and pays for the charges.
On the Student Folder Fees Tab, we are simply defining the fees/discounts that apply to this student. No charges are taking place at this time. Charges will incur when the recurring charge process is run, when a manual charge is posted, or when attendance based billing occurs.
There are no limits to the number of fees or discounts that can be associated with each student.
You have already defined the fees while setting up the A/R Accounting Rules: Recurring Fee/Discount Schedule and Attendance Based Fee Schedule. Now it is time to associate these fees/discounts with each student.
This grid displays a summary of the current fees defined for the selected student. During initial setup of your data, this grid will be empty. In the above example, there are 2 recurring fees associated with this student:
Clubhouse Weekly Registration ($15 is in the $ Fee column)
a 20% "Oldest Child Discount" (-20.00 is in the % Fee column). The discount is applied to the oldest child's tuition, and that is why it appears in the Student Folder. You will notice it is highlighted red. This means that fee has been overridden from the original value. Sometimes you may want to change the standard rate for a particular family or student. SchoolLeader reminds you the rate has been overridden by highlighting it in red.
To ADD a fee for this student, click on ADD/MODIFY. To MODIFY a fee, first click on the fee, and then click on ADD/MODIFY. The Apply Recurring Fee window is displayed:
This window allows you to select any recurring fee/discount that you have already defined in SchoolLeader in the Recurring Fee/Discount Schedule.
When you are done with selecting the recurring fee/discount, click on OK.
Click on the down arrow next to Fee Schedule Assignment and select the fee for this student. It is recommended that you first select the fee that this student should be charged, regardless of any discounts that may apply. This also applies to third party sponsored students. Always select the 'regular fee' first. We will then add additional fees, discounts, and third party subsidy credit transfers to the student.
In the example given, we have selected the 'Before and After School Fee'.
Effective Period: there is no start date or end date for this fee defined in the recurring fee schedule. This means that this rate remains valid for the active student until it is deleted or manually changed. If you had created a fee in the Recurring Fee Schedule with an Effective Start Date and End Date, those dates would be displayed here.
Fee Amount: this is a flat fee amount of $95.00. If this was a percentage based fee or discount, the flat fee amount would be zero, and the % fee would be filled in with the value from your recurring fee table. A fee is either dollar based or percentage based, but a fee cannot be both.
Highlighted in RED, use the Override Fee section to override the displayed fee. If you want to use the displayed fee amount, then ignore this section.
The override fee is particularly useful for setting promotional fees that have an expiration date. For example, if the regular recurring fee for infant tuition is $200/week, and you are offering a 4 week promotion and charging only $190/week for the first 4 weeks, then type in $190 in the override fee, with an expiration date 4 weeks in the future. SchoolLeader will charge $190/week until the expiration date passes, and then will automatically charge the $200/week from that point forward.
Override fees are also used for recurring third party billing, also known as credit transfers. You have already defined a third party fee in the Recurring Fee/Discount Schedule. Now you can use the subsidized fee to split recurring charges between a primary guardian and a third party organization. To do so:
select the subsidized fee from the Apply Recurring Fee window. The recurring fee will be -$1.00 (negative one dollar) if you set up the fee as described in the Recurring Fee/Discount Schedule. Obviously, the subsidy is going to reimburse you more that $1.00 for this tuition. Type in the correct amount that the agency is going to pay for this student. You must include the '-' negative sign. If there is an expiration date for this subsidized fee, enter it here as well.
The difference between these 2 fees will be the co-payment paid by the primary guardian.
An example on how to set up subsidized fees is described later in this chapter.
Do not use the Override Fee for recurring discounts, such as a 10% discount on sibling tuition. Instead, first add a fee to the student folder representing the full amount of the tuition, then add a second entry representing the discount amount to be taken off of the full tuition. An example on how to set up discount fees is described later in this chapter.
You cannot override a dollar ($) flat fee with a percentage (%) fee, and vice versa. Dollar Fees are overridden with dollar amounts, and percentage fees are overridden with percentage amounts.
If you have an override fee for this student, the "Fee-Override" Alert button will flash on the Student Cover page.
The % Eligible box should be checked if you want this fee to be eligible for percentage based discounts. For example, if your weekly Infant Tuition fee is $200, and you offer a 10% Family Tuition Discount on this fee, then check the % eligible box for the Infant Tuition. If you do not want this particular fee to be eligible for discounts, then 'uncheck' this box.
This optional notes section allows you to type in any comments about this fee.
Click on OK when done with this recurring fee/discount.
Here's an example on how you would tell SchoolLeader that a fee is discounted.
from the Fees tab, click on ADD/MODIFY
select the appropriate 'regular fee' (e.g. Infant Tuition)
ensure that the % eligible box is checked
click on OK. You will be back on the Fees tab of the Student Folder
click on ADD/MODIFY
select the appropriate discount fee (whether it is a dollar discount or a percentage discount)
click on OK. You will be back on the Fees tab of the Student Folder, and you will see 2 fees displayed, one for the regular tuition, and one for the discount.
Here's an example on how you would tell SchoolLeader that a fee is to be split between 2 parties (third party billing).
from the Fees tab, click on ADD/MODIFY
select the appropriate 'regular fee' (e.g. Infant Tuition)
click on OK. You will be back on the Fees tab of the Student Folder
click on ADD/MODIFY
select the appropriate subsidy fee
fill in the override section with the appropriate dollar amount that represents how much the agency is going to pay for this recurring tuition. Remember to enter the dollar amount as a negative number (e.g. -$46.25).
click on OK. You will be back on the Fees tab of the Student Folder, and you will see 2 fees displayed, one for the regular tuition, and one for the subsidy. The difference between these 2 fees will be the co-payment paid by the primary guardian.
To REMOVE a fee for this student, click on the fee, and then click on REMOVE.
To view and/or modify the Recurring Fee/Discount table, click on this button. This Fee Schedule will appear. To learn more about this window go to the section titled Recurring Fee/Discount Schedule in the Account Rules chapter.
In addition to traditional Recurring Attendance fee billing, SchoolLeader also gives you the flexibility to bill based on actual attendance. You can assign up to 3 different attendance based fees per student based on a predefined Attendance Based Fee Schedule. The three types of fees that can be assigned are as follows;
Unscheduled Drop Off -- charged when the student arrives before their scheduled start time (as defined in the Schedule tab)
Late Pickup or Limits Exceeded -- charged when the student is signed out after the scheduled end time (as defined in the Schedule tab). Also, if the "Weekly Usage Limits" have been exceeded this fee would be charged.
Scheduled Time - charged when the student is here during scheduled hours (as defined in the Schedule tab). This is usually used for billing for drop-in students. However, it can also be used in conjunction with Recurring Fees to provide you with the ultimate flexibility in designing a fee structure for your school.
Attendance based fees are calculated in addition to any recurring fees that are associated with the student. Attendance based fees are optional, so you can use none of the Rule options, or select only those that apply to this student.
When you select an Unscheduled Drop Off fee, SchoolLeader will charge for the time from when the student was signed in to when the student was supposed to arrive for the given day. The charges will be based on the Unscheduled Drop Off Fee you have defined.
For example, if a student is scheduled to be at your center at 8AM, but arrives at 7:30AM, SchoolLeader will bill for that additional 30 minutes based on the Early Drop Off fee that you established in the Attendance Based Fee Schedule. If an Early Drop off Fee is not selected, then additional billing will not apply.
Checkpoint Station has the ability to block any guardian from signing in their student too early. If you do not want the student to arrive early, regardless if you want to charge them or not, then ensure that you are 'blocking CheckPoint sign in when not scheduled', which is defined under Definitions, Configuration Settings. If you want the ability to have the student arrive early and you will charge accordingly, then un-check 'blocking CheckPoint sign in when not scheduled'. The student can be signed in early, and additional charges will accrue if they apply.
When you select a late pickup fee, SchoolLeader will charge for the additional time that the student stayed past their scheduled departure time for any given day. Also, if the "Weekly Usage Limits" have been exceeded by either total hours or days, this fee would be charged.
For example, if a student is scheduled to leave your center at 6PM, but is signed out at 6:15PM, SchoolLeader will bill for that additional 15 minutes based on the Late Pick Up Fee that you established in the Attendance Based Fee Schedule.
If a guardian forgets to sign out their student and you have a Late Pick Up Fee defined for the student, SchoolLeader will begin billing for the late pick up charges. SchoolLeader cannot distinguish the difference between a student truly signing out late, and a guardian forgetting to sign out the student. You can override incorrect charges by applying a manual credit from the Payment Account tab.
When you select a Scheduled Time Fee, SchoolLeader will charge for the Student based on attendance hours. Three typical scenarios are:
billing for drop in students (charges are based on the amount of time that the student is attending your school for any given day). For example, your drop in students may be charged $10.00 for the first hour, and then $5.00 for each additional hour, up to $50.00 a day. SchoolLeader will use the check in and check out times to determine the amount to be billed.
subsidized billing based on a students attendance, and not on a recurring fee. Many subsidized agencies only pay for when the student is present. By defining a Scheduled Hours Rule for subsidized students, you can determine the daily charges to be paid by the subsidy agency, as well as the guardian co-pay.
additional billing for students who stay in your school past a certain amount of hours, and not necessarily past a certain time. For example, let's say your recurring tuition fee includes up to 10 hours per day. If a student stays in your center for more than 10 hours in a day, then additional charges may apply. This charge is different than late pick up, because late pick up is tied to a time on a clock.
In either scenario, SchoolLeader will bill based on the attendance based fee rules you defined in the Attendance Based Fee Schedule.
The Students payment account tab allows you to review and modify the A/R accounting activity associated with a student's primary guardian directly from the Student Folder. It's important to realize that even though you are viewing the payment account from the students folder, the primary guardian is the person financially responsible for the charges (the guardian pays the bill, not the student). When you view the payment account tab in the student folder, the displayed information is actually the A/R activity for that student's primary guardian. The name of the primary guardian displays at the top of the grid.
You can view this same information by going to their Guardian Folder. Similarly, if a guardian is a primary guardian to multiple children, then you can also go to their folders and see the same detail. For example, if Mary Smith is the primary guardian for Ann, Brian and Mark, then any A/R activity posted to any of these 4 folders will be identical in all 4 folders. You do not need to split up a payment to reflect payments for the 3 student's charges; just post one payment to any one of the 4 folders and SchoolLeader will manage the primary guardian's account for you.
The Student Folder Payment Account Tab has the same look and feel as the payment account tab found in the Guardian Folder, and the Third Party Sponsor Folder.
The Payment Account tab lists all charges, credits and payments associated with the selected student and accounting period. It shows you the details that make up the balance associated with the primary guardian listed at the top of the grid. If there were multiple students billed for this sponsor, you would see all their charges as well with a total due for the entire family. In other words, this is not details for only this student.
The Payment Account tab can be broken into 4 sections for ease of discussion:
Accounting action buttons along the top third of the window allow you to post manual transactions, change the view of activity displayed, and navigate through different accounting periods.
Each button's function is discussed in detail later in this chapter.
Accounting Period navigation buttons appear below the action buttons:
When you first click on the Payment Account Tab, you will be brought to the current accounting period data for all Primary Guardians. In this example, data is displayed for accounting period 3 in 2006, which starts 1/15/2006 and ends 1/21/2006.
To the left of the accounting period dates
are the accounting period control buttons. These
buttons allow you to scroll through accounting periods, either backwards
or forwards. The
circle button always brings you to the current accounting period.
The left arrow with the line brings you to the first
SchoolLeader accounting period for the current
fiscal year. Clicking twice on the left arrow with the line brings
you to the first accounting period defined in your fiscal calendar.
The right arrow with the line brings you to the last
SchoolLeader accounting period for the current
fiscal year. Clicking twice on the right arrow with the line brings
you to the last accounting period defined in your fiscal calendar.
The left arrow without the line moves backwards through closed accounting
period.
The right arrow without the line moves forward to the next (future) accounting
period
The "SET MAX PAYMENT AMT" checkbox allows you to set a "not to exceed" amount to bill in any given period. This can be useful if customers are setup on a budget and will be paying a given amount regardless of the current higher balance.
Accounting Data for the selected accounting period:
Accounting transactions are displayed for the selected accounting period in activity date order. You can double click on any transaction to see more details regarding that transaction.
Only transactions posted in the currently open accounting period (or the next period) can be modified and deleted. This restriction ensures integrity of your data. Transactions posted in prior periods cannot be changed but you can offset their effect by posting adjustments in the current period.
Accounting Period Totals and Account Totals are displayed towards the bottom of the window:
The breakdown of these totals is as follows:
Current Available - Pre-Payments: This is the total amount of pre-payment dollars currently available for this sponsor. A pre-payment occurs when a sponsor pays more than what is due. Any pre-payments represented here are a result of over payments made in prior accounting periods, or the current accounting period. This amount can be refunded or moved to a security deposit account.
Current Available - Escrow: This is the dollar amount currently available in escrow or as a security deposit.
Display Period Balances - Bal Fwd: The Balance Forward total represents any balances that been brought forward from prior accounting periods. In other words, this sponsor has outstanding charges or credits. The details of the balance forward transactions can be found above in the accounting data.
Display Period Balances - Charges: The total of all new charges for the selected accounting period are displayed here. If you scroll through accounting periods, this number will change based on the charges posted for that selected accounting period. This is particularly useful for guardians who want to know what their charges were in a prior period (e.g. 3 weeks ago).
Display Period Balances - Credits: The total of all payments and credits for the selected accounting period are displayed here. If you scroll through accounting periods, this number will change based on the credits and payment posted for that selected accounting period. This is particularly useful for guardians who want to know what their credits were in a prior period (e.g. 3 weeks ago).
Display Period Balances - Balance: The balance due for the selected period. This will be a sum of the Balance Forward, Period Charges and Period Credits/Payments.
Current Period - Advance Charges: Advance charges are displayed for the next accounting period. Some schools post their next accounting period charges while the current period is still open. The way that SchoolLeader handles the payments for advanced charges is discussed in detail in Setting Up Accounting Rules Advance Charge Rules.
Current Period - Current Balance: The current balance including past, present and advance charges/credits.
Current Period - Amount Due: The amount that is due by the sponsor after all things are considered..
The features and functions on this tab are primarily identical to the Payment Account Tab on the Guardian Folder, and the Student Folder.
These buttons allow you to post manual transactions against the sponsor's accounting data. Manual transactions can only be posted in the CURRENT or NEXT accounting period.
Posting a manual transaction is a very common accounting function. Since you are restricted from deleting or modifying transactions from closed accounting periods, SchoolLeader allows you to post manual transactions to correct a sponsor's accounting information. Manual transactions are often used for prorating tuition amounts, applying one time discounts, and for correcting human accounting errors.
A credit is NOT a payment. If you need to post a payment, then click on the PAYMENT button.
To learn more about posting a payment, go to the Receiving a Payment section in the Accounts Receivable chapter.
SchoolLeader always accepts payments, whether or not there are charges posted to an account. However, payments can only be posted to the current accounting period.
To learn more about posting a payment, go to the Posting a Payment section
The modify button is displays the same Post Transaction window as the Posting button. However, this button is used to modify an existing transaction highlighted in the grid. Note: Double clicking on a transaction also accomplishes the same thing. It allows you to modify the transaction. You cannot modify transactions in closed accounting periods.
To learn more about posting a transaction, go to the Posting a Manual A/R Transaction section
The REMOVE button allows authorized personnel to VOID or DELETE a selected transaction. The difference between a VOID and a DELETE is that a void leaves an audit trail in the sponsor's account, whereby a delete completely removes the transaction without an audit trail in the folder. SchoolLeader can still create an audit trail for transaction deletions if you have 'turned on' the event monitoring options discussed in the DB-Support section Event Monitoring Options.
To void a transaction in the current or next accounting period:
click on the transaction
click on VOID
you may receive a message that your security clearance allows deletion...do you want to delete this transaction. Click on YES to delete, or NO to void.
The refund button is used to refund any pre-payment or credit balance that exist in the account. A pre-payment is an overpayment of money that SchoolLeader will keep aside to offset future charges. A Pre-payment or credit must exist for the refund button to be activated.
To issue a refund, click on the REFUND button. The current credit balance amount will be displayed as the refund amount. Change the amount if necessary and click on OK to issue the refund. Press Cancel to exit and abort the refund. SchoolLeader does not create the refund check, but it does update your A/R subledger noting that the refund was given.
The escrow button is used to move money from pre-payment dollars to the escrow account. It is very unlikely that a third party will have a security deposit associated with the account. If you do have such a need, refer to the Student Folder Payment Account Tab for details on how to use the escrow function. The escrow functionality works the same way in the third party sponsor folder as it does in the student folder, and the guardian folder.
To define an escrow balance:
click on the PAYMENT button and enter the amount of the security deposit. Ideally, this should be completed before any charges are posted. Since the payment is made without any corresponding charges, the payment will be a 'prepayment', and will be displayed along the bottom of the window. If charges have already been posted, ensure that there is a payment to offset those charges before posting the payment for the Security Deposit.
now that a prepayment is defined, click on the ESCROW button
The prepayment amount is displayed in 'Current Available Prepayment Funds'.
In the field 'Prepayment Funds Moving', type in the amount of the prepayment that represents the security deposit. In this example, you would type in $120.00.
Click on 'TO ESCROW'.
Click on OK.
The Security Deposit is now represented along the bottom of the Payment Account Tab as an Escrow Amount. It is not considered part of the guardian's current balance. The Security Deposit will be printed on the guardian's statement for informational purposes only.
To apply the security deposit to the guardian's outstanding account balance:
click on the ESCROW button
the amount of the Security Deposit is represented in 'Current Escrowed Funds'
in the field 'Escrow Funds Moving' type in the amount you want applied to the guardian's balance
Click on 'TO PREPAY'
Click on OK.
SchoolLeader has now moved the dollar amount from the Escrow account to the Prepay account, which now allows this money to be used towards outstanding charges, or refunded back to the guardian.
At times, a sponsor's account may become delinquent and you have determined that you will not be able to collect the outstanding balance. You have the option to write-off the outstanding balance.
To do so, click on the WRITE OFF button, and you will receive a prompt to write off the existing balance. Click YES to write off the balance, click NO to cancel the write off.
The payment register is a centralized location of handling all of the sponsor's payments. Once a payment is received in SchoolLeader, that payment becomes accessible not only from the payment account tab, but also from the Payment Register.
The Payment Register is also accessible by clicking on the notebook icon on the top tool bar, or by clicking on Accounting, Accounts Receivable, Payment Maintenance, A/R Payment Register from the FrontDesk toolbar.
To learn more about the Payment Register, go to the A/R Payment Register section
The STATEMENT button allows to print the primary guardian account statement for the current accounting period, a previous accounting period, or as a running statement across several accounting periods.
To print a current period statement, ensure you are in the current accounting period, and then click on the Statement button.
To print a prior period statement, or a running statement across multiple accounting periods, use the accounting period 'back' arrow to position yourself to the requested accounting period. When you click on the Statement button, you will receive a prompt asking if you want to print the displayed period, or a running statement from the displayed period to the current period. Answer the prompt as needed for your situation.
The Forms tab allows you to track all of the Required Forms that you defined in the Required Forms Schedule. All of the required forms will be listed on the Forms tab. During initial setup, you need to tell SchoolLeader whether or not the form is on file at your school, as well as define the form expiration date, if one applies. Not all forms have expiration dates.
All of the forms you defined appear in the Forms tab.
Forms highlighted in RED have expired, or were never marked as being on file at your school
Forms highlighted in YELLOW will expire within 30 days.
Forms that are not highlighted are in compliance with the form rules.
To modify the information about each form, double click on the form, or you can highlight the form, and then click on MODIFY. The following window will be displayed:
The name of the form. To add, modify or delete a form, use the Required Forms Schedule.
The Used ID of the person who last updated this form. When you exit this window, your User ID will then be displayed, since you were the last person to access this form.
Check the box if the form is on file. Un-check the box if the form is NOT on file.
Enter the expiration date for this form. SchoolLeader will track this date when determining compliance.
Type in any comments about this form.
Click on OK when you are done updating this form. This will bring you back to the Student Folder Forms tab.
From a student's folder, you can post a CheckPoint message to the primary guardian of this student. The message will be displayed the next time the primary guardian checks in or checks out the student.
Click on the Print Schedule button to display a report of this students forms compliance.
Once you have completed each students' forms information, SchoolLeader can begin tracking this information for compliance. There are two ways to keep track of forms compliance:
Produce a Forms Compliance list - run a report that lists all students that are not in compliance for a given date (can be a future date)
Produce a letter to the primary guardian informing them that their student is not in forms compliance.
There are a couple reports that relate directly to the data found on this tab. They help you manage form compliance in your school. Take a look...
This report lists all Students in your school who have at least one Forms compliance issue. To access the Compliance Report, you need to go to the SchoolLeader Central Report Manager:
From the top tool bar, click on Reporting, then Central Report Manager
Double click on Students
Double click on Form Compliance
Double click on Student Form Compliance List. Enter the 'as of' date (can be a future date, which will allow you to warn guardians of future forms expirations).
The report will first produce a listing of all students whose forms are not in compliance, followed by the details for each student.
SchoolLeader will produce a letter to the primary guardian, explaining that their students forms are not (or will not) be in compliance. You can define the opening and closing paragraph of the forms compliance letter, and SchoolLeader will fill in the body of the letter with the form compliance issues.
To define the opening and closing paragraphs of the form compliance letter:
Click on Reporting
Click on Form Letters
Click on Built in Form Letters
Click on the Student Forms Compliance Letter
You may now begin typing in your opening and closing paragraph. Click on SAVE when you are done. SchoolLeader will take care of addressing the letter to the primary guardian, based on the address information that is in the system.
Once you've defined you form letter compliance para