Child care is an industry that often sees professional relationships become more personal over time. As you get comfortable with your clientele, including both parents and their kids, it’s natural to establish relationships. However, allowing your financials to take a backseat isn’t sustainable. Tolerating late payments from parents and failing to abide by late fee policies is more common than it should be.
Collecting tuition is one of the most daunting tasks for any owner or director of a child care center. In the past, we have focused on simplifying tuition collection to make it easier on you and the parents. This time around, we are concentrating on how you can amplify your strategy and why it’s the right move from an organizational perspective.
Common Tuition-Related Pain Points
Making sure you get paid on time can be a recurring challenge, and we understand that it can also be an awkward conversation to have with parents.
The reality of the situation is that these payments are the foundation for your business and the costs that come with running your business will add up quickly. Unpaid fees pile up and before you know it, your business is falling behind on payroll, struggling to afford supplies, and coming up short on the various costs associated with operating a daycare.
Take a step back and look at how you handle tuition collection, but don’t stop there. Review your process from start to finish, and create a plan for how you and staff will handle unpaid fees.
Below, we outline 3 tips for how you can amplify your tuition collection capabilities.
3 Tips for Amplifying Your Tuition Collection Capabilities
Simplifying your processes will make it easier for everyone, but strengthening your processes will make collecting tuition a more effective business practice. Let’s explore.
1. Lay Down Ground Rules from the Very Start
Tuition costs and potential late fees should be one of the first topics covered when meeting parents for the first time. They are dealing with extremely busy schedules, and there’s always a bill that needs to be paid. It’s on you to make sure that they understand neglecting their tuition bill won’t be tolerated.
2. Adopt Software That Will Prevent Excuses
Writing checks seems to be archaic these days, and millennial parents might even need to Google how to do it correctly.
Digital payment processing will put their tuition bill at the tip of their fingers and nearly inexcusable to neglect. Parents can pay from their computer or mobile device, and recurring payments are optional as well.
Making these payments more convenient for parents is a surefire way to strengthen your tuition collecting strategy. By introducing a digital offering that includes multiple payment options, you can eliminate one of the more time-consuming tasks that will hamper your daycare.
At the same time, you are going to rid yourself of the financial thorn that’s exacerbated by the excuses that parents might make for missing a payment.
3. Make Yourself Easy to Reach
If a payment is going to be missed, or if it’s just going to be a few days late, maintaining open lines of communication with parents will eliminate awkward face-to-face interactions. Improving communication is a key difference-maker when you are trying to update any of your procedures, and collecting tuition is no exception.
This also applies to letting parents know of any payments that might be subject to the late fees that you established on day one. There will never be an instance of blindsiding the parents if they understand that you are always available via phone, text, or e-mail.
Final Thoughts
You can’t afford to neglecting the financial aspects of your daycare. Missed tuition payments will hamper your ability to provide quality care on a regular basis. We believe amplifying your tuition collection processes is crucial to prevent this from occurring.
Learn more about streamlining tuition collection with Tuition Express.
