When running a learning centre such as a tuition centre or kindergarten, fee payment is what keeps the business afloat.
The livelihood of the business depends on the number of students who sign up and stay with you. It is a no-brainer that as the number of students increases, so does the revenue and profit.
However, what comes next is a bigger challenge: getting parents to pay on time. Ultimately, this is a hurdle that most, if not all, education centres face.
Hence, in this article, we will share with you 3 pointers that you can apply to get parents to pay on time, every time!
3 Proven Tips for Prompt Fee Payment by Parents or Guardians
For centres that collect their lesson fee payments on a monthly basis, getting parents to pay on time is crucial, as this would affect the company’s cash flow. You, as the business owner, have other financial responsibilities, such as paying your teacher’s salary, rent, utilities, etc.
As the owner of a learning centre, the following are effective ways to make parents pay for their children’s fees promptly:
Tip 1: Offer Early Bird Discounts
For any business, offering a discount is the surest way to get your buyers excited, thus making them take action. If you own a learning centre and want parents to pay fees for their kids on time, offer incentives or rewards for early payment.
The truth is, most parents have the money to fund their children’s education. However, for some weird reasons, they feel reluctant to pay on time. To stir up the urge for early fee payment, a 5 to 10 percent discount could do the magic.
For example, assuming the tuition for a child is RM250 per month and you (as a school owner) decide to offer a 10% discount for on-time payment. Passing this message to parents will make them think twice about the offer. An average parent would say, “Wow! I could actually save RM25 if I pay my child’s fees early.”
The early-bird discount works perfectly, and you can employ it in your education business.
Tip 2: Polite Reminder
Part of being human is the fact that we tend to forget things. We do not do it on purpose, but as we are caught up in our daily routines, rushing from one place to another, it is normal that we might have overlooked certain mundane things to do, such as making a fee payment.
In addition, your student might be attending 4 to 5 other lessons, all of which require the parent to make payment at the end of the month! Therefore, we need to always politely remind both the students and parents.
Some school owners tend to go overboard in reminding parents about fee payments. You must be polite with your reminders, and do not overdo it! Bugging parents with too many messages is something you should avoid.
Another good way to send a reminder is through the students. For older students, you can simply tell them to let their parents or guardians know about the payment of tuition fees. For little kids, you can put a payment reminder in the students’ bags so parents can easily see it.
With AOneSchools’s auto-reminder feature, you can easily remind all parents to make a fee payment with a click of a button!
Tip 3: Make Fee Payment Seamless and Flexible for Parents
Finally, provide a medium for an easy and convenient fee payment. This will make parents pay their children’s fees without any excuse.
One of the reasons why parents do not pay on time is because of all the hassles that come with payment. Gone are the days when parents needed to come to the learning centre or go to the bank to make payment for tuition fees; the world has gone past that stage.
To encourage parents to pay early, technology has made it easy for parents to pay for tuition fees from the comfort of their homes, choosing different payment options.
For learning centres in Malaysia and its environs, AOneSchools is the top education software company to create an App for flexible fee payment. With this App, parents can make payments directly from the comfort of their homes and automatically receive the receipt. It also gives the option of either online banking or through a credit card!
By reducing the friction for parents to make payments, you can increase the percentage of total payments every month! Let us know which method works best for you!
