Student Tuition Easy Payment Plan (STEPP) · 1B39 PPD TUITION DEPOSITS 1110 106,476.86 5191 106,476.86- .00 * Payments entered from Cashiering using the Q fee code generate a liability/deposit

April 2008

Financial Management System

Student Tuition Easy Payment Plan (STEPP)

Center for Information Services

Supporting Washington State’s Community and Technical Colleges

Center for Information Services

3101 Northup Way, Suite 100

Bellevue, WA 98004-1449

Phone 425.803.9700

http://www.cis.ctc.edu

This documentation provided by Tara Lewis and the staff at Columbia Basin College.

http://www.cis.ctc.edu/

Table of Contents

Overview ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Using STEPP .............................................................................................................................. 2 Activity, Spreadsheets and Reports ............................................................................................ 8 Clearing PT and Posting Tuition Payments .............................................................................. 14 Notes for Hope Scholarship and 1098T Reporting ................................................................... 20

Center for Information Services – ii – April 2008

This page inserted for back-to-back printing.

Center for Information Services – 1 – April 2008

Student Tuition Easy Payment Plan (STEPP)

The Student Tuition Easy Payment Plan (STEPP) was implemented in 1999 as an alternative to

existing vendor tuition payment plans. Removing the tuition and fees from the cashiering screen

and using STEPP to provide a monthly payment alternative helps prevent students from being

dropped for non-payment after the published tuition due date.

This document provides information on and instructions for using STEPP. The screenshots and

instructions that follow show Columbia Basin College’s (CBC) application of STEPP. Other

colleges have modified the original plan to suit their own preferences.

Overview

Students pay an annual enrollment fee in the fall (or when first starting STEPP) and make

monthly payments throughout the year. CBC currently charges $35 for plan enrollment. Once a

student enrolls in STEPP, his or her charges are “paid” on CBC’s cashiering screen using

Customer ID PT (Prepaid Tuition).

While certain high-cost programs such as Fire Science and Dental Hygiene allow their fees to be

carried on and paid for through STEPP, in general, CBC does not allow special, non-refundable

course fees, for example lab fees or distance learning fees, to be carried through STEPP. These

must be paid in advance by the published tuition due date.

Charges are divided into three equal payments. A student signs an enrollment form agreeing to

the amounts and due dates. Payments are due on the first working day of each month and become

delinquent on the fifth working day. A $15 late fee is charged for payments received after that

time. (In the past, CBC did not allow students with more than one late payment to continue

STEPP. However, CBC subsequently discovered some students are willing to pay the late fee

repeatedly so CBC allows it.)

Payment due dates are arranged so that the bulk of tuition is paid before the quarter starts, with

the final payment being due well within the 50% refund period. (However, Highline Community

College was able to get an attorney general to state that they could collect the payments over the

course of the quarter.)

After the third payment due date, PT is cleared by applying the amount paid to tuition and fees

and reversing the Q (deposit) transactions. Any unpaid amounts are transferred back to the

student’s account as tuition and the normal collection process ensues.


Using STEPP

To use STEPP, follow the instructions below. (As a reminder, these instructions and screenshots

are based on CBC’s process.)

1 In the Debt Type Transaction Table (BM1020), in the Debt Type field, type PT.

2 In Account Maintenance (BM1626), in the Customer ID fields, type PT and O

(Other).


3 In Billing Schedule (BM1023), in the Billing Schedule field, type NI (No Invoice).

To view the Charge Status Sequence and associated codes, use the Charge Status

Table (BM1025).


4 In the Fee Class Table (BM1011), set up Fee Class PT for Q fee codes.

CBC uses fee class 50 for both PS (enrollment fee) and PU (late fee). Fee Class PT is

allowed for 1098T reporting; fee class 50 is not.

5 In the Organization Information Table (GA1092), set up Org Index to accumulate Q

payments (deposits).


6 In the Program Index/Organization Index Table (GA1062), attach Org Index to Prg

Index.

7 In the Fee Code Table (BM1001), set up a payment fee code for each quarter (Q1,

Q2, Q3, Q4) to receive STEPP payments.

The Fee Class displays PT.

The YRS Edit displays Y.

The Debt type displays B1 deposits (Trans Code 190, GL5191).


8 In the Debt Type Transaction Table (BM1020), in the Debt Type field, add B1

(Customer Deposits). The Trans Code is 190, Dr 1110, Cr 5191. (Q payments are

recorded as deposits until all three payments are made. Then payments are

reclassified to tuition.)


9 In the Fee Code Table (BM1001), add fee codes for PS (enrollment fee) and PU (late

payment). The Debt type is your college’s default debt type.

Below is an example of the Fee Code Table with the PS fee code information

entered:

Below is an example of the Fee Code Table with the PU fee code information

entered:


Activity, Spreadsheets and Reports

This screenshot of the Customer Account Activity screen (BM1625) shows typical STEPP

transactions.

The first payment was due February 2, but the student had not yet registered for spring

quarter. The payment is either what was paid in the prior quarter, or an amount

appropriate for the expected number of credits.

The student registered and made his second payment March 4 for the adjusted amount

after registration. STEPP-eligible charges were “paid” using Customer ID PT.

The third payment was received April 4.

To view these transactions, see “Student, Matt” in row 7 in the STEPP spreadsheet.


This screenshot is an example of a STEPP reconciliation spreadsheet.

The reconciliation compares data from several sources to ensure accuracy. The PT section

numbers are derived from the STEPP spreadsheet. The total is reconciled to the Customer

Accounts Aging Report (BM1710J). The Q section numbers are also derived from the STEPP

spreadsheet. The total is reconciled to the GA1335J Prg/Org set up to hold Q deposits/payments.

Samples of each of these reports and instructions on how to generate them follow.


This screenshot is an example of a STEPP detailed spreadsheet.

Total Tuition (Total in PT): $117,168.25

Total Q Payments received: $40,363.90 + $37,014.67 + $28,150.41 = $105,528.98

Refunds of PT (student dropped a class, the credit balance was paid with PT): $13,151.66

Refunds of Q (Q overpaid or Q was NSF). PT will be adjusted by this amount when

applied to tuition: $511.06


The following Prg/Org Trial Balance Report (GA1335) agrees with the previous reconciliation:

MON, MAY 9, 2005, 9:35 AM PAGE 98 PERIOD ENDING: 050509 19 COLUMBIA BASIN COMM COLLEGE REPORT GA1335 FYR: 04-05 FMO: 10 PROGRAM/ORGANIZATION TRIAL BALANCE VER007 FUND: 570 OTHER AUXILIARY ENTE PRG ORG INDX INDX PRG/ORG TITLE GL AMOUNT 1B39 PPD TUITION DEPOSITS 1110 106,476.86 5191 106,476.86- .00 *

Payments entered from Cashiering using the Q fee code generate a liability/deposit entry to

GL5191. When Q payments are reversed and PT is applied to tuition on BM1620, GL5191 is

reduced to zero (for more information, see “Clearing PT and Posting Tuition Payments” on page

14.

The following BM1710J report also agrees with the previous reconciliation:

MON, MAY 2, 2005, 9:08 PM PAGE 6 19 COLUMBIA BASIN COMM COLLEGE REPORT BM1710-PT STEPP VER005 DEBT TYPES: PT BY CUSTOMER NAME CHRG CUSTOMER STAT UNOFFICIAL TOTAL WHEAT TIM L UO 747.00 747.00 WHELPLEY CRYSTAL N UO 528.15 528.15 WILDE MARIANNE UO 747.00 747.00 WOOD BRADLEY D UO 814.20 814.20 WORMAN SYNNOVE S UO 382.25 382.25 YADEN ANDREW S UO 831.00 831.00 ZAMORA DENNIS C UO 747.00 747.00 104,016.59 * 104,016.59 *

This report lists all students whose charges have been “paid” by PT. Customer ID PT has a Debt

Type of PT which does not generate accounting entries in UO (unofficial) status. When the PT is

applied to tuition and the Q entries reversed, the balance on this report goes to zero.

The following is from the CIS Job Documentation and provides instructions and parameters for

running BM1710J.


BM1710J

Customer Accounts Aging Report

The Customer Accounts Aging report provides information on the age of various receivables.

Report: BM1710A

BM1710B

Special Instructions None

Frequency On-request

Scheduling Restrictions None

Execution Time Anytime (O, B, P or I)

Job Completion Status JOBFAIL

Job Groups None

Job Dependency None

Operator Instructions None

Estimated Run Time 15 minutes

Recovery/Restart This job is restartable.

Parameters

BM1710-

AGE-FRMT

The aging format to use in producing the report. The aging format must have been defined

using the Aging Format Table (BM1022). This determines the column headings and

defines the data to be placed in them.

BM1710-

DEBT-OPT

Indicates whether the report should be sorted by debt type. Possible values are:

Y = Sort report by debt type

N = Do not sort the report by debt type

BM1710-

DEBT-TYP

Indicates the debt type for which the report should be produced. One or more debt types

may be specified separated by commas. A range of debt types may be entered using a

colon. If left blank, all debt types are included.

BM1710-

RPT-OPT

The report format to use in producing the report. This determines the classifications of the

charges appearing on the left hand side of the report. Possible values are:

1 = Charge Status

2 = Fund

3 = Customer, sorted by Customer ID

4 = Customer, sorted by Customer Name

5 = Customer Reference, sorted by Reference ID

6 = Customer Reference, sorted by Reference Name

BM1710-

STAT-OPT

Indicates whether each line item should be shown by charge status. This option has no

effect with BM1710-RPT-OPT = 1. Possible values are:

Y = Show each line item by charge status

N = Do not show each line item by charge status

Distribution: FMS

Created: WED, DEC 10, 2003, 3:26 PM


To run BM1710J, follow the instructions below:

1 In the Aging Format Table (BM1022), for Aging Format, add PT so that the PT will

print on BM1710J.

2 In the Job Scheduling screen, schedule report BM1710J to print.


Clearing PT and Posting Tuition Payments

Clearing and posting of PT, Q and tuition should be done only after reconciling the STEPP

spreadsheet, Report BM1710J – PT and Report GA1335J – Prg/Org Trial Balance for 5191 in

the Q Prg/Org.

The PT and Q amounts must be equal for each student when clearing PT and posting tuition.

Make adjustments to the student’s account on the cashiering screen. Adjustments are made for

amounts not paid, insufficient funds, overpayments and so on, to both the cashiering screen and

the spreadsheet so that the correct amounts are applied to tuition.

For example, if a student has not fully paid, the amount due is re-established as tuition (TR) on

the cashiering screen. The same amount is added as a negative charge also as TR and then is

“paid” with PT to reverse the pending unpaid amount in PT. The columns on the spreadsheet are

then adjusted to match the net PT “payments” on the student’s account.

A new batch is created to apply payments to the tuition and fees. The transactions look like

payments, but in actuality, net to zero cash. The deposit account (Q payments in GL5191 and the

Customer ID PT) will be simultaneously cleared. This is why reconciling must be done prior to

these entries and why PT must equal Q on the spreadsheet.


To clear PT and post tuition payments, follow the instructions below:

1 In the Batch Identifier Table (GA1068), set up Batch ID PT for posting the

application of PT into tuition categories. This allows easy identification of batches

used to complete tuition payments. The batch can be set to post manually (post

indicator=1) until the system is operating smoothly.

2 To continue, press Enter.


3 In the Customer Activity Maintenance – Option Selection screen (BM1620), select

Customer ID for payment. To move to the next screen, press F5 (Payment).

4 In the Customer Activity Maintenance – Payment screen, enter the total payments

the student made. The amount should equal the net amount charged to PT during the

quarter. To continue, press Enter.


5 To balance the batch to zero cash, the Q entries must be reversed. Press F6 (Next

Keys).

6 Press F2 (Miscellaneous transaction).


7 Enter the coding to reverse the Q payments to GL5191. To do so, use Transaction

Code 190R. Use the account (Prg/Org) coding that was set up to accumulate the Q

payment/deposits for this student.

8 To post the transaction, press F4 (Post Trans) twice. After posting, you can enter

another Customer ID. Continue down the STEPP spreadsheet until all PT/Q is

cleared and the tuition and fees are posted.

9 Check the batch for accuracy in the General Accounting Batch Header Screen

(GA1103) and the General Accounting Transactions Screen (GA1104).



The 023 entries automatically generate to apply PT to tuition and fees. The 190R entry is

the miscellaneous entry that was input to clear the Q deposits (GL5191).

Notes for Hope Scholarship and 1098T Reporting

For 1098T reporting, include the Q fee code (fee class PT) used to receive payments. Be

sure to type a Y in the YRS indicator in BM1001 when setting up Q fee codes. By using

the Q payments as allowable charges/payments, the actual amount paid is reported in the

proper time period for the taxpayer.

When running the 1098 process, exclude the third-party Customer ID code used to

“pay/move” the tuition charges off the cashiering screen (PT). PT is not a third-party

payer.

Be sure not to allow any non-1098T allowable fees to be carried via STEPP so that they

will not be included in the Q payments.

Documents

Student Tuition Easy Payment Plan (STEPP) · 1B39 PPD TUITION DEPOSITS 1110 106,476.86 5191 106,476.86- .00 * Payments entered from Cashiering using the Q fee code generate a liability/deposit