Payment plans

Every invoice generated in onCourse have payment plans. You can learn more about the basics of invoices in our Invoices chapter.

By default, invoices have a due date of the day they are created. Sometimes you will want to allow students to pay for training over a longer period of time. Using payment plans you can set the amount of the up front deposit and a series of dates for payment of the remainder in instalments.

Invoice due dates

An existing or new invoice can be converted to a payment plan by adding payment due dates. This can be done either during invoice creation, or after an invoice has been created and saved. While in the invoice record you want to make a payment plan for, click on the '+' symbol next to the payment plans / payments table to add a new payment. You can add as many additional payments as required to pay off the invoice total.

Figure 525. Manually adding payment plan lines to an invoice

Next, start editing these payment plan lines, starting with the dates you want the payments to be due. This is done by double-clicking on one of the new payment fields and changing both the date and the payment amount.

Figure 526. Editing the date for each of the payment due lines

Keep doing this until the payment plan amounts total up to the invoice total. If there are any errors, such as the amounts not adding up, you will not be able to save the invoice. The payment plan dates should also line up with the due date of the invoice, with the final payment falling on the invoice due date. This ensures any automated reminder notifications you may have set for students will go out at the expected times.

Figure 527. Invoice with manually added payment due dates and amounts

The 'Overdue' column in the Invoices list view will show the total unpaid component of the invoice that is due prior to tomorrow.

You can edit the payment plan amounts and due dates at any time, for example if you grant the student an extension to the payment plan.

Class payment plan template

If you wish to offer a deferred payment scheme to all students in a particular class you can set up a payment plan templates from the class edit view you where you normally set the class fee.

This can be quite useful if you’re an RTO who is bound by the Standards that limit your prepayment of fees to $1,500. For example, if you offer a 10-week course that costs $2000, the course costs $200 per week. Therefore, you could collect $1500 at the time of enrolment, and the remaining $500 after week seven without needing to have any protection measures in place.

You may also like to use payment plans as part of your online marketing strategy, by encouraging students to commit to enrolment early with a small refundable payment (say, $100), with the remainder of the fee becoming due on the class commencement.

The payment plan template can include an amount on enrolment (deposit) and as many other amounts on dates relative to the start of the class. If you subsequently adjust the class timetable and change the class start date then the payment plan template will automatically be adjusted. When you duplicate classes the payment plan template will also be adjusted with the new timetable.

To create a payment plan for a class where the fee has already been set, you need to:

1. go into the class record
2. click to the Budget section
3. click and expand the Income section
4. click the pencil icon next to 'Student fee'
5. edit the 'On Enrolment' amount to set the amount payable on enrolment.

Click the + next to Payment Plan to add an additional payment after the enrolment date. You can set this amount and the number of days after the class starts that the payment is due. When adding payment plans, ensure that the amounts you’re adding add up to the full, expected amount of the enrolment fee. You can add as many payment plans as you like, though the payment dates you select should obviously make sense within the context of when the class is running i.e. don’t accidently make students pay after the class is finished.

Figure 528. Creating a payment plan in a class

Checkout

During enrolment into a class with a payment plan, only the deposit amount will normally be charged at enrolment. The payment field will auto adjust to this amount, but you can manually alter it to be more or less as you need in the third step of the checkout window, called 'payments'.

If, at the time of enrolment, the next payment dates have already passed those amounts will also be charged. So, let’s take an example class with a $1000 deposit and $500 due 7 days before the start of class. A student enrolling 10 days before the class starts will be charged $1000 and a student enrolling 5 days before class starts will be charged $1500.

Figure 529. Payment plan invoices in Checkout for a class that starts on 16th September 2020

Online enrolments

If a payment plan applies to the class, we suggest you make some note of it in the class web tab, so a potential student enrolling via the web can see what amount is payable and when. The full class fee will still display in the class block when a payment plan applies.

Figure 530. Payment plan detail explained in the class web info

When the student completes the enrolment process, the 'pay now' component will be reduced to the deposit payable.
The invoice the student receives on completion of the enrolment process will itemise the remaining payment components and their due dates.

Figure 531. Pay now reduced to the applicable payment plan deposit

Automating payment plans with scripts

If you have payment plan templates to create for lots of classes you may wish to instead use a script to automate the process. A simple script might identify all classes with a fee over $1500 and then limit the amount due on enrolment to $1500 with the remainder payable over the duration of the class.

More sophisticated payment plan scripts can create different plans depending on the duration of the class, the amount of the fee, whether the class is VET or not and any other criteria.

Payment plan scheduled reminders

When a student is on a payment plan, you may wish to enable the default system script 'send payment plan reminder' so the debtor is automatically emailed a reminder 7 days before their payment is due. The default reminder contains a link to make the payment via the skillsOnCourse portal. You can enable this from the top menu by going to Scripts, then clicking on the script 'send payment plan reminder', click on the checkbox 'Enabled' in the top right side of the window, then Save.

Figure 532. "send payment plan reminder" script

This default reminder will also send overdue notices to any debtor who has an invoice (on a payment plan or otherwise) where the payment is overdue.

This script will trigger the email template 'Payment reminder' which can be edited by going to the Automation window and clicking into the Message Templates section. Look for the 'Payment Reminder' template in the section that expands open and click it.

Figure 533. "Payment reminder" message template