Purpose

To inquire on a student's individual schedule for payment of fees and make adjustments as required

Subsystem

Student Finance

Structure

Four blocks

Person
Fee Calendar
Person Payment Schedule
Person Payment Schedule (edit) (overlay)

Navigation button invokes:

Person Payment Schedule edit block

Image

This form allows inquiry on a student's payment history in a particular fee period. It gives details of outstanding debt and amounts already paid for each fee for which the student is liable, with a separate entry for each date on which payment of a fee is required – the facility exists for any fee except HECS to be paid in instalments. The information shown here is known as the 'person payment schedule' and forms the basis of a Statement of Account sent to a student, a Reminder Notice sent to a student, and a Sponsor Summary Statement sent to a sponsor. Statement of Account extract records are created by running FINJ6120, Reminder Notice extract records are created by running FINJ6121, Sponsor Summary extract records by running FINJ6130.

HECS fees will only ever have one entry in this form, and any increases or decreases to the debt will be reflected in that entry.

Editing. For those with the necessary security privileges, the form can also be used to amend and add entries to adjust a student's payment schedule. Amounts can be redistributed over different dates. However, the total amounts involved cannot be changed except indirectly through an alteration of the allowable discount.

The intention is to enable correction of an administrative error or, at the discretion of the institution, to allow a student to postpone payment or spread payment over more instalments. More stringent restrictions apply to amending HECS fees than to altering other system fee types.

Related forms & processes. The 'person payment schedule' records displayed here are created and maintained by the Process Person Payment Schedules job, FINJ6111. This job supplies the current form with the following new or updated information for each fee:

• amounts reflecting a student's most recent fee assessment (and, if applicable, the tax amount required on this assessment), whether as a result of running the fee assessment routine (FINJ3500, FINJ3001) or after a manual assessment or adjustment in form FINF3610
• dates for payment that it derives from the appropriate 'template' schedule recorded in the Define Payment Schedule form (FINF2860). These dates are calculated from a 'notification date' supplied when FINJ6111 is run. (For background information see the Schedules section of the Specialist Overview.)
• the sponsorship component of a debt (derived from data recorded in Direct Assignment of Sponsorship, FINF4300), if applicable.

The exception is where a date has already been adjusted using the current form - running FINJ6111 will not alter dates or other data so adjusted.

Note that the fee assessment routine, the job to create person payment schedules and the statement extracts are run in sequence many times over a fee period. Depending on the point within the cycle at which this form is accessed, it may not reflect a student's most recent fee assessment. On the other hand, it may be more up-to-date than the last statement sent.

Example

Scenario: A student has been assessed in the first semester fee period for tuition and for a general service fee of $104. A person payment schedule has been created in accordance with the 'template' payment schedule set up for her fee category. She has received a Statement of Account for these fees giving a payment due date of 21^st March, ten days before the census date. This is shown when the current form is used to make an inquiry.

Because of difficulties in meeting the payment by that date, the institution has agreed to defer the payment of her tuition fee until 10^th April, and to allow her to pay the GSF in two instalments of $52 each, one on 31^st May, and one on 30^th June.

In this form, this would be achieved by

• resetting the payment due date to 10^th April in the original tuition fee entry
• resetting the payment due date to 31^st May and changing the amount from $104 to $52 in the original GSF entry
• inserting an additional record with a payment due date of 30^th June and an assessed amount of $52 for GSF.

The Person and Fee Calendar blocks operate in query mode only.

• Select the student, either by entering a known person ID, or by selecting the button to use the Find Person facility (ADMF1211).
• Select the required fee period in the Fee Calendar block by scrolling through the available records.

The current payment history for the student in this fee period is displayed. It includes fees in all categories and courses.

Where a fee is payable in instalments, there will be more than one entry for each fee type.

The details for each entry include:

• the date on which payment is due, which may be derived from the 'template' payment schedule, or may represent a previous adjustment using the edit function in this form
• the total amount the student/sponsor is expected to pay (for a shared debt, this is the total expected from the student and sponsor in combination). This total
• includes tax, where applicable
• is minus anticipated or 'earned' discount (see note opposite)
• for HECS fees, takes account of the anticipated or actual HECS payment option as at census date (see note opposite)
• the assessed amount for a fee; and for taxable fees, the tax calculated on the assessed amount (though less tax is due if a discount applies – see note in opposite column)
• a record of the amounts already paid against the fee as notified through an external financial system (includes both student and sponsor contributions); and the additional amount paid in tax, where applicable
• a record of the amount of each fee which a sponsor has undertaken to pay (excluding tax), and the tax due on that amount.

Any difference between assessed amount and expected payment reflects

• a discount on the assessed amount, and/or
• the addition of tax payable on the discounted amount, or
• for HECS fees, an indication that the student has deferred payment as at the census date.

Rules and Notes:

• Lamps indicate when a CONTRACT rate exists, a SPONSORED amount is applicable for a fee, a MANUAL ASSESSMENT has been made, or a HECS debt has been deferred.
• For any particular student, the number of entries may change during a fee period. For example, entries may be removed if a student's debt decreases because of withdrawal from study units. Extra entries may indicate an increased debt, or that an adjustment has been made in this form to spread a debt over more instalments.
• If sponsorship (for a course, fee period or liability) is cancelled (in FINF4300, Direct Assignment of Sponsorships) the debt automatically reverts to the student, and associated sponsorship amounts are no longer displayed in this form after FINJ6111 has been rerun.
• Before the due date, the expected payment amount reflects any anticipated discount. After the due date, the expected payment amount reverts to the full amount if a discount has not been 'earned' by on-time payment.
• For HECS fees, the amount in the Expected Payment column will reflect the rules governing HECS payment options. These options are recorded in form ENRF0161, and assigned to the student in ENRF3110 (via ENRF3000).

Thus, for an assessed amount of $1000, and according to current regulations (1998)

• for option 10 (deferred payment), no payment is expected
• for option 11 (up-front payment with discount) $750 is expected (25% discount already applied)
• for option 12 (up-front, no discount) $1000 is expected. 

See also: HECS Payment Options in Special Topics.

• PELS
  • The expected payment amount used in the system reports the total of the student, the sponsor and the loan scheme expected payments.
• Tax is calculated after discounts (whether anticipated or 'earned') are applied, although tax amount based on assessed amount is displayed. For example:

Discount Amount = $5
Assessed Amount = $100

tax = 10%
displayed Tax Amount = $10

amount after discount = $95
calculated tax is 10% of $95 = $9.50
Expected Payment is $95 + $9.50 = $104.50

To edit a fee for a student (or see further details) select the required fee before navigating to the editing block via the Edit Schedule button.

Current liability records for the fee and category are displayed. With the Include Deleted Items checkbox selected, logically deleted records (either deleted in this form or by the job FINJ6111) are also displayed. They are identified by a date in the Deletion Date field.

Editing

For unpaid HECS fees

• only an existing payment due date and the notification date can be altered.

For unpaid fees of other types

• the payment due date, the discount details and the notification date can be changed
• amounts still to be paid can be redistributed across different entries by

1. altering the assessed amounts and/or sponsored amounts of existing records – usually to decrease the debt at a given date (TIP: you may need to alter the sponsored amount first. Use tab/shift tab to navigate forward/backward in the spread table)
2. inserting a new entry or entries with a different date and entering amounts that bring the totals back to the original totals
3. entering a notification date (defaults to current date when the field is entered)
4. optionally, entering comments
5. saving the new and adjusted entries.

As part of adjusting a schedule, entries can be logically deleted as long as totals remain consistent with the original totals. A deletion date is supplied by the system.

The latest reminder date is displayed when a reminder record has been created by the Reminder Notice Extract job, FINJ6121.

Tax amounts are automatically recalculated to redistribute the tax debt in line with changes made.

• Fees with a system fee type of HECS
• can only have one entry, reflecting 100% payment
• cannot have discount percentages or amounts, discount minimum payments or sponsored amounts adjusted in this form.
• The Manual Entry indicator will be set when an entry adjusted in this form is saved.
• Except for HECS fees, once an entry has been manually adjusted in this form, that particular entry will not be further updated by the Create Person Payment Schedules job, FINJ6111. Where a debt has increased but no existing records can be updated (because they have been manually adjusted), new records are created based on the template schedule defined in FINF2860.
• Fee type, fee category and currency code fields are for information only.
• A set of altered entries can only be saved if the new totals for sponsored and assessed amounts equal the original totals.
• The payment due date cannot be altered for an entry that has been partially paid.
• The balance owing on partially paid assessed amounts in an entry can be altered to redistribute the debt.
• Entering a notification date serves several purposes - it maintains an administrative record of when the entry was altered or created, it is used by the statement extract jobs (FINJ6120, FINJ6130) and in certain circumstances it is used by the routine Add Grace Period to Person Payment Schedules, FINJ6112.