SCENARIO 1: Students are attending school with unpaid fees.
Q) Can students attend class if they have not paid their fees?
Yes. Students can attend class even if they have not paid their fees. Students still have 28 additional days to pay their school fees once school has commenced. However, if fees are still not paid after 28 days have passed, the student should be dismissed from school, and is no longer allowed to attend classes until their account is settled. At this point, students can still return to school as long as payment of fees is made before the 42 day deadline (see below). After the 42 day deadline has passed however, students are not longer eligible to return to school.
Q) What is the process for chasing up school fees?
First Day of School
All fees are to be paid by the first day of new school year, but if students have not paid their fees on the first day of school, an “Overdue Payment Notice” should be issued to parents.
14 Days After School Has Started
If fees have still not been paid 14 days after school starts, a “Final Notice of Overdue Payment” should be issued to parents.
28 Days After School Has Started
If fees are still owing 28 days after school starts, an “Enrolment Hold Notice” should be issued to parents. At this point, the student should be dismissed from school, and is no longer allowed to attend classes until their account is settled. The student is NOT dropped from class records or school records at this point. The school office should use the Attendance Code “EH” (Enrolment Hold) during this period to indicate that the student's enrolment is temporarily on hold until further notice.
42 Days After School Has Started
If fees are still owing 42 days after school has started, students are no longer eligible to return to school, and their school enrollment should be officially terminated. At this point, the student should be immediately dropped from their classes so they no longer appear on Teacher rolls. This can be done via PowerSchool on the “Modify Enrollments” screen.
Shortly afterwards, the student should also be “Transferred Out” of the school so that they no longer appear on the School Enrolment count. A school “Clearance” process should be properly followed before the student is officially “Transferred Out”.
NOTE: See the “S&I Pacific Schools Policy Manual, Page 13, Payment Deadlines”, for additional details.
Q) Who is responsible for chasing up fees?
The school is always responsible for reminding parents about overdue fees. The school should work in close collaboration with Finance to identify these students and create the appropriate notices and reminders, but ultimately, such communications should be distributed by the school office itself. These communications can be conducted via phone calls and other conversations, but the three formal letters described above should be issued to parents as a minimum.
SCENARIO 2: Students are no longer attending school but have unpaid fees.
Q) What should happen to class enrollment records and school enrollment records when a student removes himself/herself from school?
If a student has left school, they student should be immediately dropped from their classes, so they no longer appear on Teacher rolls. This can be done via PowerSchool on the Modify Enrollments screen.
Shortly afterwards, the student should also be “Transferred Out” of the school so that they no longer appear on the School Enrolment record. A school “Clearance” process should be properly followed before the student is officially “Transferred Out”.
NOTE: In some cases, a leaver may have been dropped from their classes, but still appears on the school enrolment count because they have not yet been properly cleared by school admin to be officially “Transferred Out”.
Q) What is the process for clearing a student or transferring a student out of school?
There are two major parts to the student clearance process: School Clearance and Financial Clearance.
SCHOOL Clearance: A student must be cleared by school admin before they can be officially “Transferred Out” of school. Ideally, the student should receive a School Clearance Form from the School Office that should be handed back and signed by the school office when completed. The school clearance process usually includes actions such as returning sports uniforms, returning textbooks, and notifying teachers of class withdrawal etc.
FINANCIAL Clearance: The second part of the clearance process includes receiving a Financial Clearance from Finance (PBO) that confirms to the parents and school and all outstanding fees have been paid.
Once these clearance process has been followed and approved, the student can be officially “Transferred Out” of school.
Q) Can a student be “Transferred Out” of school if they still have unpaid fees?
Potentially, YES. If a student has gone through the SCHOOL Clearance Process, a student may qualify to be transferred out of school and removed from the total enrolment count even if the FINANCIAL Clearance Process hasn’t been fully completed. It is normally recommended that both clearance processes are completed first, but under certain circumstances, the School Office and Finance Office may agree to transfer the student out of school even if fees have not been cleared. An example of when this might occur is when a student has moved location and the school is having difficulty tracking the student down.
NOTE: A FINANCIAL Clearance Process will still be required for ALL students that have left school whether they have been transferred out of school or not. Reports can be pulled to display the students that have been transferred out with outstanding fees. In some cases, fees may need to be waived in order to properly clear a student through Finance, but these decisions will not be made until the school and finance office have followed all necessary processes to track down and collect monies from the student.
Q) Who is responsible for chasing up fees?
The school is always responsible for chasing up students that have outstanding fees. The school should work in close collaboration with Finance to identify these students and create the appropriate notices and reminders, but ultimately, such communications should be distributed by the school office itself. These communications can be conducted via phone calls and other conversations, but the three formal letters described above should be issued to parents as a minimum.
NOTE: The school should work closely with Finance to write off any fees that cannot be obtained.
Q) Can a student receive a transcript or report card if their fees have not been paid?
No. A student should not be permitted to collect a transcript or report card until their fees have been settled. Even if a student has gone through the School Clearance Process, they are still required to go through the Financial Clearance Process before they can collect transcripts or report cards etc.
SCENARIO 3: Students have graduated and moved on with unpaid fees.
Q) Who is responsible for chasing up fees?
The school is always responsible for chasing up students that have outstanding fees. The school should work in close collaboration with Finance to identify these students and create the appropriate notices and reminders, but ultimately, such communications should be distributed by the school office itself. These communications can be conducted via phone calls and other conversations, but the three formal letters described above should be issued to parents as a minimum.
NOTE: The school should work closely with Finance to write off any fees that cannot be obtained.
Q) What is the PowerSchool process for collecting fees if the student has already been transferred to the Graduated Students school?
The School Office and Financial Office should follow the same process for collecting fees that have been described in the scenarios above. The only difference is that the student record will need to be accessed in the Graduated Students area of PowerSchool. All processes and actions relating to the clearance of graduated students should be conducted inside the Graduated Students area. It is usually unnecessary for the student to be transferred back into their previous school for monies to be collected.
Q) Can a student receive a transcript or report card if their fees have not been paid?
No. A student should not be permitted to collect a transcript or report card until their fees have been settled. Even if a student has gone through the School Clearance Process, they are still required to go through the Financial Clearance Process before they can collect transcripts or report cards etc.