How to Handle School Fee Overpayments and Prepaid Balances
By PayDesk · Updated
What should happen when a parent pays more than the school fee balance?
Apply the payment to the invoice it was meant for, then carry any extra to the student's next unpaid invoices in order. If everything is cleared and money is still left, keep it as a prepaid balance on the student's account instead of discarding it or refunding it automatically.
The allocation order PayDesk uses
- Pay the matched invoice down to zero first.
- Apply any remainder to the student's other open invoices, oldest first.
- Credit whatever is left to the student's prepaid balance.
Why it matters
Parents often pay a round amount, or pay for the whole year in one go. Without an allocation rule, the bursar has to split payments by hand, and the statement parents see no longer adds up. A clear rule keeps every shilling attached to an invoice or to the student's prepaid balance, and PayDesk stores each allocation against the payment.
Questions to settle with your board
- Does prepaid money roll into the next term automatically?
- When is a refund allowed, and who approves it?
- How is a prepaid balance shown on the parent's statement?
Frequently asked questions
- Is an overpayment lost?
- No. After open invoices are cleared, the remainder is held as the student's prepaid balance.
- Which invoice is paid first when a student has several?
- The invoice the payment reference points to is paid first, then the student's other open invoices from oldest to newest.
See it work with your own Paybill
PayDesk matches M-Pesa payments to invoices automatically. Book a short demo and we will show it on a sample school.