Fees

A fee record belongs to a learner and holds a description, amount, paid amount and due date. Its status can be Draft, Issued, part paid, Paid or Voided. The Finance Officer uses those values to see which obligations remain open and which have been settled. The link to the learner keeps the fee beside enrollment and course activity while keeping fee review separate from the course completion decision.

Start with a clear description and due date. Review the amount before issue, then maintain the paid amount when confirmed payment information arrives. A partially paid item remains visible until the obligation is fully settled or explicitly voided. Because each fee is a separate learner obligation, staff should retain the original amount when updating the paid amount.

• Separate amount and payment. The amount states the obligation; paid amount records what has been credited.
• Use due dates. Finance Officer prioritizes issued and part-paid items that are due.
• Explain voids. Review a void against the original learner and fee description.

Agree who creates charges, who records paid amounts and which external payment source provides confirmation. Decide how partial payments are allocated when a learner has more than one fee. Choose the date rule used for an overdue review, and reconcile imported opening obligations against the source before issuing new ones. The Finance Officer should rehearse an issued fee, a part-paid fee and a voided draft.

A learner has an issued course fee due this month. The Finance Officer opens the learner’s fee, checks its original amount and due date, and records the confirmed paid amount. If only part is paid, the item remains part paid and appears in the open fee list. After the remaining amount is confirmed, the item can be marked Paid.

If a charge was entered for the wrong learner, the officer reviews the source and voids the incorrect item rather than changing its learner reference to make the history disappear. The corrected obligation should be a separately reviewable fee. Before the next cycle, compare open amounts with the payment source and investigate any difference. That comparison is especially important when a learner has several fee records with similar descriptions.

For a Draft charge, the Finance Officer checks the learner and description before issuing it. The open fee list then shows obligations that need payment review, while the draft list keeps charges under preparation separate. If a learner disputes a charge, compare its original amount and due date with the source information before changing the saved status. This avoids treating an unconfirmed paid amount as a settled obligation.

• Open fee obligations — Issued and part-paid learner fees with amount, paid amount and due date.
• Draft fee review — Charges ready for the Finance Officer to check before issue.

Review learner fees and prepare integration ownership.