Installments and schedules
Understand how a student's installments are generated from their payment plan, enrollment date, and billing configuration.
An installment is one scheduled portion of what a student owes — an amount with a due date. Installments are not created by hand: they are generated when a payment plan is attached to an enrollment.
Who this is for
Administrators who want to understand where a student's balance comes from.
The examples below use an academic year that runs 1 September through 30 June, and the default billing configuration: due on the 1st of each month, charged in advance. Other anchors and timings are covered after the default cases. Billing configuration is set under Settings → Finance → Billing — see Billing configuration.
How installments are generated
A plan is attached to an enrollment
When a student is enrolled with a payment plan — or a plan is set on an existing enrollment — the plan's fees become the basis of the schedule.
Months before today are not generated
The schedule starts from today in the school timezone, or from the first day of the academic year when today is earlier than that. Months before today are not generated. Nothing is generated after the year ends.
The enrollment date can default to today. It does not move the first due date off the billing anchor.
Each fee expands by its periodicity
| Periodicity | What is generated |
|---|---|
| Monthly | One installment per month, from the first due date through the end of the year. |
| Quarterly | One installment every three months, on the same rule. |
| One-time or yearly | A single installment, due on the first due date. |
The schedule appears on the student
The generated installments — each with an amount due and a due date — show on the student's payment view, grouped by fee.
Due dates
With the default configuration, every month in the schedule is due on the 1st, including the month the student joins.
An unpaid installment whose due date is before today in the school timezone shows as Overdue. Due today is not overdue. The amount stays collectible.
Student joins after the 1st — in advance
Enrolled on 3 October. Charge timing in advance. Cycle anchor 1st of each month.
| Fee | Installments |
|---|---|
| Monthly (canteen, activities, …) | 1 October, then 1 November through 1 June. September is not billed. October is billed on the 1st. |
| One-time (registration, supplies, …) | One installment due 1 October. |
On 3 October those 1 October rows are already Overdue. November through June stay pending.
Student joins on the anchor day
Enrollment date 1 October. The first due date is 1 October, then the 1st of each following month through June. A one-time fee is also due on 1 October.
If the plan is attached on 3 October, those 1 October rows are already overdue: the student was enrolled on the due date, and that date has passed.
In arrears
In arrears bills at the end of the period. If the student joins after this month's anchor, that period is skipped. Enrollment on 3 October with the 1st as the anchor starts on 1 November. October is not billed. Later months stay on the 1st.
Enrollment date as the anchor
When the cycle anchor is Student enrollment date, every installment falls on that day of the month: enrollment on 3 October gives 3 October, 3 November, 3 December, and so on. A short month uses the last day of that month, then the enrollment day returns.
Changing a plan
A successful change replaces the schedule with the new plan. It does not keep the old plan's unpaid rows.
| What happened | What the schedule does |
|---|---|
| Change succeeds | Every unpaid installment of the old plan is removed, including overdue ones. Paid installments stay. A partly paid installment is closed at the amount already collected and stays. |
| New schedule | Built from today, not from the original enrollment date, through the end of the year. The same due-date rules apply. A fee already paid for that same due date is not billed again. |
| Change is rejected | Nothing is removed and nothing is added. The plan and the installments stay as they were. |
| Same plan chosen again | No new installments. |
Review the result
After a successful change, open the student's installments. Overdue rows from the old plan are gone. The new plan's fees are there instead, starting in the current period.
Switch with only overdue rows
The old plan has an unpaid canteen due 1 October (overdue) and nothing paid. The switch succeeds. That October row is removed, along with every other unpaid row of the old plan. The new plan is generated from today: a one-time fee due on the current anchor (1 October, if they were already enrolled then), and a monthly fee from that date through June. There is no second copy of the same fee on the same date.
Switch when something was already paid
A 1 October installment that is already paid stays on the old plan. If the new plan contains that same fee, it does not add another installment on 1 October. Later months of the new plan are still generated.
Switch rejected
The change is saved only if the whole replacement succeeds. If it is rejected — the plan does not apply to the student's level, the year is closed, or the schedule cannot be built — the student keeps the previous plan and the previous installments. Overdue rows stay because the change did not happen, not because a successful change preserves them.
Reading an installment
Each installment tracks three figures:
| Figure | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Amount due | The scheduled amount for that installment. |
| Amount paid | How much has been collected against it so far. |
| Remaining | Amount due minus amount paid — what is still owed. |
An installment is fully settled when the remaining amount reaches zero.