Imagine you’re in the checkout line at a grocery store and the person ahead of you pulls out a checkbook to pay. 

Doesn’t happen often, does it? And when it does, it likely isn’t a 30-something mom with kids in the cart.

Paying by credit or debit card has become the norm. And setting up auto-pay for bills ranging from utilities to recurring subscriptions are how many people, especially millennials, manage their finances. 

Accommodating the preferences of that generation is especially important in today’s world, where they are the vast majority of today’s parents. As a child care provider, being able to respond to how millennials want to pay is vital to running your business. 

Let’s take a look at some of the reasons millennials prefer online payments to filling out paper checks!

Who Are Millennials? 

Millennials are usually defined as those born between 1981 and 1996. And in 2020, they — along with their younger siblings and children — became the majority of the U.S. population.

Millennial parents number more than 22 million in the U.S., with about 9,000 babies born to them each day, according to a recent TIME article. 

“This growing cohort of parents is digitally native, ethnically diverse, late-marrying and less bound by traditional gender roles than any generation before it,” the article states. 

And they love their smartphones.

Millennials communicate primarily on online platforms and almost all use smartphones. They use their phones to communicate and as their wallet. 

This generation isn’t writing checks — they’re pulling out their phones to pay at the grocery store and when they do other shopping. 

How Do Millennials Pay Their Bills?

Did you know that 80% of millennials use the internet to manage their finances and pay their bills? Here’s another interesting tidbit — 60% of millennials prefer texting over email and phone to communicate with businesses. 

A recent study showed that HALF of millennials have never even used a check. The study was cited by The College Investor, which gives financial and investment advice to millennials, in a recent blog titled “How to Write a Check (and Free Check-Writing Alternatives.”

Millennials don’t want to write checks. They do want options.

Procare’s tuition-collection and payment-processing platform was built with parents in mind. It allows for convenient online and secure payments that ensure your center gets your tuition on time, and gives parents at your center a choice in how they pay. 

Payments can be made automatically from their checking accounts or billed to their credit cards. And it’s easy to set up recurring plans. 

What Security Risks Do Checks Pose?

Millennials want simplicity and predictability in how they make payments and they love a personalized experience. And of course, they want to be sure their credit-card and other financial information is safe.

Paper checks display a person’s name, address, phone number and sometimes even driver’s license number. That’s plenty of information for fraudsters to steal someone’s identity.  

Automatic payments limit the amount of information available and the number of people who have access to it.  

With Procare, you can be confident that your families’ financial data are protected. 

In addition to strong data encryption, Procare uses hardened security standards including individual account and password authentications, role-based security authorization and complete change control auditing. 

And Procare does not use any third-party processors. 

What Effect Did the Pandemic Have on Online Payments?

According to a study published last year, the post-pandemic world has seen significant changes in the use of new technologies and services at a global level.

The study noted that the use of contactless payments grew 24% among millennials.

The Procare child care app gives parents the option to pay tuition through the app, a capability that became even more essential during the coronavirus pandemic when face-to-face contact was limited, and when exchanging cash and checks risked spreading germs.

Offering contactless methods of payments, and in other parts of your child care center, remain critical to your business. 

For instance, Procare’s integrated technology allows families and your staff to use QR codes and/or GPS technology for a completely touch-free check-in and check-out process as well!

Procare Offers Your Center What Millennial Parents Want

The ability to accept online payments will set you apart from other early childhood education centers in your area and will be a perk that millennial parents will value.

Tuition collection and payment processing should be a seamless experience for child care providers and families. That’s why Procare provides online billing with the lowest transaction fees as well as next-business-day funding!

Parents will be thrilled to be able to make convenient online and secure payments and you’ll get your tuition on time.

With Procare’s online payment-processing capabilities, all the reporting is electronic. That means you’ll have access to records on your phone or computer. There’s no need to print and store reports when you can quickly find what you need with just a few clicks! No more wasting time standing in line at a bank to deposit paper checks.

The ability to collect tuition through automatic payments saves you valuable time while ensuring accuracy in your daycare accounting.

You get a real-time view of all center financials and receivables in the integrated dashboard showing tuition charges and balances tracking/calculations, multi-family billing options and fee transparency. 

Want to know more about integrated invoicing, billing and payments? Check out this free eBook to learn how child care center management software can make billings and payments a breeze!

Two out of three child-centered businesses that use child care management software choose Procare.

Join us for a personalized demo today!