Billing Methods

You can use the Billing Methods page to configure how your institution bills students for tuition and other charges. You can configure variations of billing methods by frequency and assign a different billing method for each program version.

The billing frequency options include:​

• Term – Bill each term using a rate schedule and post detailed charges for each course in the term to the ledger card. When a program has a schedule of fees set up at the program version level, the fees will populate at the time of enrollment and can be modified later if needed. Each fee will be gathered to bill depending on the settings chosen for the term, academic year, or term sequence and will be posted using Registration Billing.

  You can also configure and calculate rates based on student residency status and/or course delivery methods. The system will audit changes to the residency status and delivery method on the billing method's rate schedule.

  If you configure Use Rate Schedule = No, the cost to be billed to the student is taken from the student's enrollment fee schedule.

  With Term billing frequency, you can:

  • Configure different billing rates for different terms

  • Bill course fees for individual courses (if configured)

  • Bill students based on any combination of course levels, course delivery methods, and student’s residency status

  • Post charges for a term as an aggregate amount per transaction code or post detailed charges for each course in the term

  • Review pending charges before posting or automatically post charges without reviewing

  • Calculate the initial billing charges based on the combined credit load registered in connected enrollments (see Using the Connected Enrollment Billing Option on the Billing Method Configuration)

  (Term billing is the most used option for traditional schools.)​

• Payment Period – Bill each payment period. This frequency requires configuring a rate schedule and selecting "Automate Registration Charges".

  (Used by non-term schools.)​

• Program – Bill by program using a rate schedule or the program fees folder

  (Usually used for short programs that are billed once.)​

• Academic Year – Bill each academic year sequence through the program fees folder. This frequency requires a rate schedule. The rate schedule allows the institution to define transaction codes to be billed as well as an effective date and effective date type. Pending charges are not available with this type of billing method therefore, the Portal will not support the display of pending charges.​

• Course – Bill course fees configured on the course and charges are posted to the ledger card as soon as the student registers for a course. The rate posted is gathered from the fees setup in the Course Fees list. Otherwise, registration billing will pull the same fees during the registration billing process.​

The billing method configuration enables you to associate Rate Schedules with each transaction code and with each campus which provides maximum flexibility for institutions with multiple campuses when billing their students.

Billing by Term, Course, or Payment Period and Rate Schedule allows you to select Posting Options. For example, when you choose "Automate Registration Charges" if a student registers for a course and meets the billing method and rate schedule criteria, the student will automatically be charged on their ledger card for the charges configured on the rate schedule. When you choose "Required Pending Charges Review", the charges on the rate schedule will not be charged until you run the Billing Review & Post process (see Pending Charges Tab tab).

The billing logic in Anthology Student allows a student to be billed for the same term at multiple campuses so one student may be earning revenue concurrently at multiple campuses.

There is a correlation between billing and deferred revenue as typically both processes reference the same time frame (term, payment period, academic year, or program length). There are a few exceptions to this rule such as billing by term using a schedule of fees and earning over the length of the program.

Prerequisites

To view the page, you must have Student Accounts - Configuration - View authorization.

To edit the page, you must have Student Accounts – Configuration - Manage authorization

Your institution must have selected the residency type for billing purposes for each campus. (Select the Settings tile > expand System > select Campuses > select the name of an existing campus, or select the New button, specify the required information, and Save the campus > select the Student Accounts tile.)

You should also be familiar with the Background for Billing Methods.

Access Method

Select the Configuration tile > expand Student Accounts > select Billing Methods.

Procedure to Add or Edit Items

1. If you want to:

   • Add a list item, select the New button on the toolbar

   • Add a list item by copying and modifying a list item, select the name in the list and the Duplicate button on the toolbar

   • Edit a list item, select the name in the list

     Changes to billing methods are not retroactive. You may need to unregister and re-register current students who are affected by a billing method change.

2. Review, specify, or change the following values. The fields displayed depend on the selected Frequency option.

   Active Specifies whether the associated record is active. Allow Course Fee Schedule Indicates whether or not a registrar can select a course fee schedule when registering students for a course. This option is only displayed for the Course and Payment Period frequencies. It is displayed for Term frequency if you select Use Rate Schedule. Always Bill Registration Fee Indicates whether or not the REG bill code will be charged to students who have school statuses of N or W. This option will work only if the REG bill code is configured as part of the rate schedule or configured in the students' fees folders. Auto Correct Course Details Select whether you want to auto-correct course details to configure term billing methods to post detailed billing charges for each course registered in the term. Selecting this option enables an automated procedure (auto-correct job) that assesses the total amount billed for bill codes set up on the rate schedule. Selecting this option also adjusts the ledger appropriately depending on the courses dropped. This field is enabled when the Posting Type is set to Aggregate. This field is disabled when the Posting Type is set to Detail for the Term billing frequency. When Frequency = Term, Use Rate Schedule = Yes, and Automate Registration Charges = Yes, Auto Correct Course Details = Yes by default. Bill only if Registered in term If enabled, only students who have classes registered for the term being processed are billed. Code The alphanumeric code assigned to the item by your institution. In most cases, codes must be unique.

   Connected Enrollment Billing This field is displayed only when the billing frequency is set to Term. The options are Yes/No. The default is No. If you select Yes, the following fields are populated as shown below and cannot be edited: Automate Registration Charges =Yes, Auto Correct Course Detail = Yes, Posting Type = Aggregate, Use Term Group Billing = No. The Range options Credits and Hours are enabled. All other Range options are unavailable. Use this option if want to have the billing charges for both enrollments, which are connected, to post only to the designated default enrollment. The non-default enrollment ledger card will not have any charges when this option is used. The billing method configuration of the default enrollment will take precedence when billing with this option. Do not configure Term Groups when you use a billing method with the 'Connected Enrollment Billing' option set to 'Yes'. Course Fee Effective Date Indicates the Effective Date for Course Fee Schedules used for evaluating Course Fee Schedules and Course Fees that are not set up on a rate schedule: - Student Enrollment Date: Anthology Student only bills students based on fees that are configured with an effective date before the student's enrollment date. - Payment Period Start Date: Anthology Student only bills students based on the fees configured with an effective date before the student's class start date. Description The descriptive name of the item. Frequency You can choose the frequency by which you bill your students. The Academic Year frequency requires a rate schedule. The rate schedule allows schools to define transaction codes to be billed and an effective date and effective date type. The Course frequency gathers the charges from the fees set up in the Course Fees list. If you select Automated Registration Charges and Adjustments, the charges are posted to the ledger card as soon as the student registers for the course. The Payment Period frequency requires defining a rate schedule and selecting Automated Registration Charges and Adjustments. The Program frequency (without a rate schedule), posts charges for the entire program on the student's ledger card once the student enrolls. Term/Quarter frequency can use a rate schedule. The charges will appear at the time of enrollment. Each fee will be gathered to bill depending on the settings for the specific term, academic year, or by term sequence. The charges will be posted using the Registration Billing process. If a rate schedule is not used, the charges will be taken from the student's enrollment fee schedule. Use Rate Schedule Indicates whether or not you want to use a configured rate schedule. If you enable this field, additional options such as Rate Schedule options and Transaction Codes options are displayed. Use Term Group Billing This option ensures when billing student fees, credits are aggregated across all terms in a group, across connected enrollments, and charged against the default billing term at the default connected enrollment. Only when the Billing Method Code is the same for both the connected enrollments and the Use Term Group Billing option is selected, the credits are aggregated across enrollments for tuition charges. If the Billing Method Code is not the same for both connected enrollments and the Use Term Group Billing option is selected, the credits get aggregated for the term group within the enrollment but not across the enrollments.

Course Refund Policies are calculated based on the posted balance, not the pending balance. Course refund policies rely on Auto Correct Course Details Indicates whether an auto-correct job is enabled. This job assesses the total amount billed for bill codes set up on the rate schedule and adjusts or creates detailed support records per course for the courses comprising the charge. being set to Yes. When "Auto Correct Course Details" is set to No, you are responsible for posting adjustments to avoid issues with later adjustments and re-bills in the term.

3. If you select Yes for Use Rate Schedule, the Rate Schedules and the Transaction Code grids are displayed. You can select Yes or No for the when the billing frequency is Term, Program, or Academic Year.

   By default, the Use Rate Schedule option is set to:

   • No for Frequency = Course

   • Yes for Frequency = Payment Period

4. In Posting Options for Term, Course, and Payment Period billing frequencies, specify or change the following values. Posting Options are not applicable for Program and Academic Year frequencies.

   Auto Post Drop Adjustments Indicates whether or not drop adjustments are automatically posted. This setting is applicable and editable only when Automate Registration Charges = No. Automate Registration Changes This field is enabled only when you select Term or Course for Frequency. Specify Yes if you want to enable automatic registration billing and automated adjustment of fees in the student ledger. If you select Yes, any time a student is registered or unregistered from a course, the change is displayed in the student ledger as a pending charge or adjustment. The Automate Registration Changes field is disabled when Use Term Group Billing is enabled. Immediate Posting Adjustments Indicates whether the adjustments are posted to the ledger card immediately instead of when the next SQL job is run. This option is set to No and disabled by default when you select the Payment Period billing frequency. "Immediate Posting Adjustments" is enabled only when you select "Automate Registration Charges". We recommended enabling this option if you are using automated posting without a review to ensure accurate course amount information. Offset Days from Term Start Specify the number of days before or after the start of the term that the institution uses to perform initial registration billing. For example, specify -2 to indicate two days before the start of the term, and 2 to indicate two days after the start of the term. Specify 0 in this field to perform initial registration billing on the Term Start Date. If you do not specify any value, the initial registration billing occurs on the Add/Drop Date defined at the term level. If there is no Add/Drop Date defined at the term level, registration billing occurs at the end of the term.

   Posting Type Indicates whether the automated posting of charges and adjustments is of type: - Aggregate A pending charge record is created per bill code for a payment period in the student Ledger Card. - Detail A pending charge is created for every transaction code configured in the rate schedule. Each ledger entry contains a field for course, section, and payment period. Require Pending Charges Review Indicates whether you want to review the process pending charges/adjustments before the records are posted to the Student Ledger card. Transaction Date for Charges and Adjustments This field is enabled only when you bill by Course or by Term and when you enable Automate Registration Charges. This field determines the date that is posted for registration billing on the student's ledger card. The options are “System Date” and “Term Start Date”. If “Transaction Date for Charges and Adjustments” is set to “System Date”, the transaction date for initial billing charges and adjustments will be the later date between the system’s current date and the “Minimum Transaction Date” for the campus. If it is set to "Term Start Date”, the transaction date for initial billing charges and adjustments will be the later date between the billing term’s start date and the “Minimum Transaction Date” for the campus (Processes > Student Accounts > Period End Dates).

5. In the Rate Schedule section, specify or change the following values.

   Campus The campus or campuses to which a person or item is assigned. It is filtered to display the campuses to which you have access. In some cases, it is also used to filter a list to only those items for the campus. In some lists, you can select more than one campus or select All. In lists that display columns, if the column contains more than one campus, you cannot sort or filter on that column.

   Range Select the billing range options. If the Posting Type is set to Detail, the Range options are Course Level Load, Credits, and Hours. If the Posting Type is Aggregate, the options are Course Level Load, Credits, Hours, Term, and Total Course Load.

6. Save the record to enable the Transactions Codes grid.

7. In the Transaction Codes grid, take the appropriate action.

   Action	Steps to follow
   Add or edit a transaction code	1.  If you want to: Add a transaction code, select the New button on the toolbar. Anthology Student adds a new field in the Transaction Codes list. Edit a transaction code, select the name in the list 2.  Review, specify, or change the following values. Campus The campus or campuses to which a person or item is assigned. It is filtered to display the campuses to which you have access. In some cases, it is also used to filter a list to only those items for the campus. In some lists, you can select more than one campus or select All. In lists that display columns, if the column contains more than one campus, you cannot sort or filter on that column. Effective Date Type Select the effective date type. The options are Enrollment Date, Effective Start Date, and Term Start Date. The system evaluates the Effective Date Type/Rate Schedule configuration to determine which rate schedule to use when billing the student. Only one Effective Date Type can be defined per transaction code. Effective Date Select the effective date. The Effective Date entered here is compared against the Effective Date Type to determine the appropriate rate to bill the students. Name Indicates the specified name of the credit card processor. 3.  Select the expand arrow () and select Add on the toolbar to add a rate schedule record or to edit an existing rate schedule record. You can configure multiple rate schedules per transaction code. Each rate schedule can have an effective date type and effective date. If you define more than one rate schedule for a transaction code, all rate schedules for that transaction code must use the same effective date type. 4.  Review, specify, or change the following values. Audit Select the check box to indicate that the rate schedule applies to audit courses. You can set up a flat rate or schedule for the courses taken as an Audit (as is done with a Full Credits course). The rate schedule has an audit form that can be displayed by selecting the Audit button. Any changes to the rate schedule are posted on the audit form where they may be monitored. Course Level Select the course level from the defined course levels for the institution. When billing by course level, the rate schedule is used to define the amount billed for a specific course level. This creates a dependency on the course configuration and the Course Level that is set up for every course offered. When setting up a rate schedule using Range = Course Level Load, the "All" level will include all courses set as "All" level as well as any other courses not defined in the rate schedule. Delivery Method Select the delivery method to indicate that the billing rate applies to courses associated with the selected delivery method only. This field displays a list of all active delivery methods for the campus. If the rate schedule is for a specific campus, this field displays a list of all active delivery methods for a campus. If the rate schedule is for multiple campuses, this field displays a list of all active delivery methods that are common for all those campuses. The default value is set to All Methods. The All Methods option allows you to configure a generic rate to bill all courses associated with delivery methods that are not configured with a specific rate on the rate schedule. Flat Amount Specify the amount to be added to the value of Rate multiplied by units. High Specify the high end of the range of units. Low Specify the low end of the range of units (credits, hours, or courses). Over Specify the value to be used when billing by credits or hours as the units. For example, the institution charges a flat rate of $1000.00 plus $150.00 for each credit over 12 credits. Per Select the unit by which the Rate is multiplied to calculate the amount to be charged. The unit options are Credit, Course, and Hour. Rate Specify the dollar amount to be multiplied by the number of units (e.g., credits registered). Residency Status Select the Residency Status to indicate that the billing rate applies to students associated with the selected residency status only. If the rate schedule is for a specific campus, this field displays a list of all active residency statuses associated with the Residency Type configured for the billing campus. If the rate schedule is for multiple campuses, this field displays a list of all active residency statuses associated with the Residency Types that are configured for billing across all selected campuses. The default value is All Statuses. The All Statuses option enables you to configure a generic rate to bill all students whose residency statuses cannot be determined or students whose residency statuses are not configured with a specific rate on the rate schedule. With multiple attributes (Course Level, Residency Status, Delivery Method) on the billing method rate schedule, it is necessary to establish a hierarchy to dictate the order in which the attributes are used to determine the correct rate to bill a course. This is especially important if there are conflicts found in the rate schedule configuration that produce more than one rate that can be used to bill a course. To address this potential conflict, rate schedule attributes will be evaluated in the following order to determine the correct rate for billing. Priority 1 - Audit Priority 2 - Residency Status Priority 3 - Course Level Priority 4 - Delivery Method
   Audit a transaction code	1.  Select the Audit button on the toolbar. Anthology Student displays the Billing Method Audit dialog box. 2.  Review the following values. Action The action taken after the status change, for example, course registered and so on. Comment Area you can use to specify comments or additional information about a change or a request. Date Month/Day/Year or Year-Month-Day Effective Date Select the effective date. The Effective Date entered here is compared against the Effective Date Type to determine the appropriate rate to bill the students. Effective Date Type Select the effective date type. The options are Enrollment Date, Effective Start Date, and Term Start Date. The system evaluates the Effective Date Type/Rate Schedule configuration to determine which rate schedule to use when billing the student. Only one Effective Date Type can be defined per transaction code. High Range Specify the high end of the range of units. Low Range Specify the low end of the range of units (credits, hours, or courses). New Value Field value after making changes. Old Value The value in the field before it was changed. Property Indicates the property on the rate schedule that has been modified, such as Rate, Course Level, Residency Status, Delivery Method, and so on. Transaction Code The transaction code. The following items are applicable when posting charges: - If transaction code permissions are used, only transactions that you can process are displayed - When posting to the main student ledger, only transaction codes that are not associated with a subsidiary are displayed User The name of the user who submitted the job. 3.  Select the Close button.
   Remove a transaction code	Select the Remove button on the toolbar. Anthology Student removes the transaction code.

8. If you want to save and: 

   • Continue making changes, select the Save button

   • Continue to add another item to the list, select the Save & New button

   • Close, select the Save & Close button

Determine Pending Charges

When the student has not yet been billed for the term, you can perform the following tasks:

Task	Field	Required Value
Calculate pending charges based on the: •   Course's delivery method assigned to the course section •   Student's residency status at the time when the term starts	Use Rate Schedule Indicates whether or not you want to use a configured rate schedule. If you enable this field, additional options such as Rate Schedule options and Transaction Codes options are displayed.	Yes
	Automate Registration Charges This field is enabled only when you select Term or Course for Frequency. Specify Yes if you want to enable automatic registration billing and automated adjustment of fees in the student ledger. If you select Yes, any time a student is registered or unregistered from a course, the change is displayed in the student ledger as a pending charge or adjustment. The Automate Registration Changes field is disabled when Use Term Group Billing is enabled.
	Range Select the billing range options. If the Posting Type is set to Detail, the Range options are Course Level Load, Credits, and Hours. If the Posting Type is Aggregate, the options are Course Level Load, Credits, Hours, Term, and Total Course Load.	Credits, Hours, or Course Level Load
Generate pending tuition discounts for each course in the term separately	Posting Type Indicates whether the automated posting of charges and adjustments is of type: - Aggregate A pending charge record is created per bill code for a payment period in the student Ledger Card. - Detail A pending charge is created for every transaction code configured in the rate schedule. Each ledger entry contains a field for course, section, and payment period.	Detail
Post detailed charges for each course
Generate detailed pending charges for each course

Procedure to Delete Items

1. Highlight the item in the list.

2. Select the Delete button on the toolbar.

The item is:

• Removed from the list on the page and the list is redisplayed

• No longer available to select on the forms that contain the list

Procedures for Deactivating Items

There is more than one method for deactivating an item.

Method	Procedure to Follow	Result
Using a toolbar button	1.  Highlight one item in the list. 2.  Select the Deactivate button on the toolbar.	The item:  •   Remains displayed in the list with No in the Active column •   Is also no longer available to select on the forms that contain the list
Editing the item	1.  Select the name of the item in the list. 2.  In the Active drop-down, select No. 3.  Select the Save and Close button.

Because the item is not removed, you can also make it active again by selecting the Activate button.