The financial health of your child care center is a two-way street. Flexible payment methods and digital payment options make it easier to fulfill your business needs, as well as the needs of your customers. However, if your payment collection capabilities aren’t where they should be, maintaining good financial health during your child care business journey will not be easy.
Without a consistent, positive, cash flow, your business will be put at risk and you will have to overcome a variety of financially-related challenges. Whether those challenges are process related or if they stem from parents making payments late, the common thread is a lack of convenience.
Below we explore how software like Tuition Express® can simplify the payment collection process by making it more convenient for all involved, helping you achieve the best results possible. But, first, let us explain what it is.
Explaining Tuition Express
Making organizational tasks like tuition collection easier for child care providers is one of Procare Software’s major focuses. It’s the driving force behind all of our solutions, and Tuition Express is no exception.
Tuition Express is an add-on service for Procare’s Family Data & Family Accounting modules that offer child care providers an easy and secure way to collect tuition for child care, daycare or preschool.
It’s an advanced, customer-oriented service, that will show parents how dedicated you are to improving their experiences with your child care business.
Below, we explain how it can empower child care providers by providing access to advanced tuition and fee collection capabilities that make managing cash flow easier.
Why Is Cash Flow So Important for Child Care Businesses?
Of all the metrics and key performance indicators you can point to, revenue is one of the best, if not the best, measures of success for your business. At the same time, we understand that the success of a child care center shouldn’t solely be measured on the amount of money it makes, because the quality of care provided is equally as important.
From a business perspective, your cash flow is your lifeblood, and it represents your ability to operate and grow. Financial and business planning play a massive role in any business venture, but the impact is much more concentrated in the child care industry.
Unlike other business ventures, a child care center likely has only one source of income – tuition payments from parents, along with any additional service-related charges. For that reason alone, payment collection is crucial for your child care center, even if personal relationships present unforeseen challenges.
Improving Your Cash Flow with Tuition Express
When it comes to collecting tuition payments, convenience is key. Ultimately, late tuition payments can keep you from growing your child care business, and manually tracking these payments can lead to self-induced mistakes.
This is why offering a quick and easy method for tuition payment is essential. Here are five key features and capabilities provided by Tuition Express that will be catalysts for improving the cash flow of your child care operation:
1. Accept Electronic Payments
Requiring parents to cut a check and deliver it in person isn’t outrageous by any means, but it’s a rigid requirement that limits flexibility.
Providing extensive options for making payments is the easiest way to eliminate any excuses for late payments. It also improves the likelihood that you will see your invoices being fulfilled in a timely manner.
2. Automate Invoices & Billing
Manually managing your books is a time-consuming endeavor. However, it’s the exact type of task that Family Accounting and Tuition Express are built to eliminate. Creating invoices, administering them, and tracking the status of each one can be a strain.
Automating the process frees up your time and provides you with better visibility into the payments you expect, so you can make sure they are paid on time.
3. Expedite the Collection Process
You won’t need to worry about checks clearing, or worse – bouncing. The days of rushing to the bank before close are over.
With Tuition Express, you can electronically process payments within 24 hours, and funds are immediately made available. There aren’t going to be any safety concerns either, due to the 256-bit encryption key used to secure account information during the transaction.
4. Track Payment History
Manually tracking hours, fees, and any additional costs will be a struggle. Collecting historical data will improve visibility into the past of your child care center, as well as the payment history of each parent. By automatically tracking payment history and making historical data visible to both parents and providers, you can improve your transparency and make record-keeping easier for all involved.
5. Full Integration
Tuition Express integrates seamlessly with the Procare system. Working within multiple solutions can complicate things, but we have nullified those issues by consolidating your daycare accounting and payment collection into a single, easy to use system.
Final Thoughts
Collecting tuition payments from parents is far from the best part of the job, but it is necessary. If this aspect of operating a child care center is particularly stressful, Tuition Express offers ways for you to lessen that strain and improve your cash flow while doing so.
Learn more about Tuition Express, the most efficient and safest way child care payments can be made.
