5 tips for improving the debtor management of an educational institution
Many people still enjoy a well-deserved holiday, at home or abroad. But after the holidays, students have to get back to work. The same applies to the debtor management department of the educational institutions which must, among other things, ensure that tuition fees are paid on time. With the help of these 5 tips, it will certainly succeed, probably faster and easier than before.
1. Holidays are breaks
During the summer holidays, students are studying the beach or making money from a holiday job. For that reason, the chance is small that they will pay an invoice or notice a payment reminder. Therefore, we advise pausing such correspondence until two weeks before the end of the summer holidays.
2. Arrange it with a payment arrangement
Not all students are good cash flow managers, so in the education sector, it often happens that payments arrangements have to be made with the students (or parents). It is important to take a social attitude as an educational institution; after all, you want the students to focus on achieving good results. That is why it is good to let them determine the content of the payment arrangement themselves and not the other way around. This increases the likelihood of the regulations are complied with, which reduces the likelihood that a debt collection process is required.
3. A ‘warned’ student…
In the education sector, it is often the case that direct debits are reversed. This problem can be solved by alerting students on time - via email or text message- that the tuition fees will be debited soon and that the bank balance must therefore be sufficient. This considerable reduces the number of reversals.
4. Different payment methods are ideal
Offer all students (and parents) who have not opted for direct debit the option to pay the tuition fees via different payment methods. This makes it much easier for them to pay, which means that invoices are paid faster. The same goes for payment reminders.
5. Speak multiple languages
Or let your software speak multiple languages. An English or French-speaking student does not understand a word of, for example, a Dutch invoice. Therefore, to speed up the payment process, we recommend that you make the invoice in the language of the student. Wondering how to do this? Take a look here.
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