This blog was originally published in 2022 and updated on Jan. 31, 2025, with new information.
You pursued a career in early childhood education because you love children and are an educator — not an accountant! — at heart. Dealing with billing and tuition collection should not be taking up your valuable time.
With numerous payment options and great customer service, Procare Solutions offers an affordable and integrated payment collection solution for your child care center.
Since 2003, Procare has collected billions of dollars in tuition for child care programs. Every transaction is handled with a fee structure that’s one of the lowest in the industry.
Let’s look at how Procare can help you consolidate statements and billing, and easily process tuition payments!
Making Payments Easy for Families
Procare was built with parents in mind, allowing for convenient online and secure payments that ensure your program gets your tuition on time — payments are automatically posted to the correct customer account!
More and more, parents depend on apps to manage their finances. Procare’s child care app allows parents to make online payments — from a checking or savings account, or a debit or credit card — to a child care program or daycare, including recurring payments! It also gives parents a viewable list of transactions.
Parents also can choose to pay from a computer, or in person at check-in or through a card reader.
Families can access tuition statements, receipts and their payment history in real-time on the Procare child care app. Payments can be made quickly and securely. Funds are typically processed the following business day (subject to bank funding and processing approvals)! And you can see a comprehensive payment history for each family at your center or enrichment program.
With this data, you can be confident that your records on child attendance, invoicing and payments received are correct. If parents have any questions about billing or notice any discrepancies, you’ll be able to provide relevant and efficient customer service and resolve the problem quickly by looking through the family’s account history, billing plan and attendance records.
Consolidated Payments and Financial Systems
With Procare, you get a single dashboard for all your program’s needs without third-party software. Recurring plans can be set up to get automatic payments safely and securely via multiple payment options including automatic withdrawals from checking accounts as well as credit or debit cards.
You get a real-time view of all your child care program’s financials and receivables in the integrated dashboard showing tuition charges and balances tracking/calculations, multi-family billing options and fee transparency. This dashboard allows you to understand what your program is paying per transaction and why.
Families can access tuition statements, receipts and their payment history in real time on the Procare child care mobile app. Payments can be made quickly and securely!
And you can see a comprehensive payment history for each family at your center or enrichment program.
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!
Free eBook
The Benefits of Integrated Billing and Payment Features within Your Center Management Software
See how child care center management software can make billings and payments a breeze. Automate invoices, easily process payments, view family balances, and more!
Automated Invoicing and Billing
Procare’s fully integrated center management platform, billing and payments are automated. That means Procare does the work for you and gives centers the ability to create and send invoices to parents easily.
Procare provides online billing with low transaction fees. Several options are available, including automatically sending one-time invoices or recurring invoices with an auto-pay option.
Want to do your billing based on attendance? You can, and even through the Procare child care mobile app if you choose.
Want to automatically add late fees to past-due accounts? Yep, you can do that too!
How Procare Can Help!
Procare’s fully integrated child care program management platform takes the hassle out of billing and payments and makes tuition collection a seamless experience for center providers.
And when you have a question, you need an answer quickly. That’s why Procare has a dedicated phone number and a dedicated support team just for payment-processing questions. You can get answers by phone, email or chat with a live person.
Simplifying invoicing, billing and payments can help save time and resources and keep your center healthy and more predictable.
Take the next step to streamline and consolidate your child care program’s invoicing, billing and payments within ONE platform. Join us for a demo so we can answer your questions!
And if you’d like to see how much time and money you could save with digital payments, use this online calculator to get a customized estimate:
Procare Cost and Time Savings Calculator Automated Payment Processing Cost & Time Savings Calculator Digital Curriculum Cost and Time Savings Calculator
Calculate your potential cost and time savings by using Procare’s all-in-one child care management software. All we will need from you is some information about your child care location*: Calculate your potential cost and time savings by using Procare’s secure and effortless child care payment processing. All we will need from you is some information about your child care location*: Calculate your potential cost and time savings by using Procare’s classroom management. All we will need from you is some information about your child care location*:
* Our data model is based on our experience working with over 100,000 child care centers, before and after school programs and youth organizations since 1992.
Switching to Procare's automated payment processing will save you 8.28 hours and $139.93 a month!*
| Manual | Procare | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) | Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) | |
| Family Registration | 0 hr | $0.00 | 0 hr | $0.00 |
| Attendance Tracking | 1.5 hr | $25.35 | 0.25 hr | $4.22 |
| Family Communication and Engagement | 1 hr | $16.90 | 0.1 hr | $1.69 |
| Financials | 10 hr | $169.00 | 1.2 hr | $20.28 |
| Payment Processing | 10.8 hr | $182.52 | 2.52 hr | $42.59 |
| Classroom Management | 10 hr | $169.00 | 0.5 hr | $8.45 |
| Family Registration | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual | Procare | ||
| Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) | Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) |
| 0 hr | $0.00 | 0 hr | $0.00 |
| Attendance Tracking | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual | Procare | ||
| Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) | Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) |
| 1.5 hr | $25.35 | 0.25 hr | $4.22 |
| Family Communication and Engagement | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual | Procare | ||
| Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) | Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) |
| 1 hr | $16.90 | 0.1 hr | $1.69 |
| Financials | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual | Procare | ||
| Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) | Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) |
| 10 hr | $169.00 | 1.2 hr | $20.28 |
| Payment Processing | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual | Procare | ||
| Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) | Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) |
| 10.8 hr | $182.52 | 2.52 hr | $42.59 |
| Classroom Management | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual | Procare | ||
| Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) | Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) |
| 10 hr | $169.00 | 0.5 hr | $8.45 |
We understand that smaller centers and in-home daycare providers are operating on a tight budget, and that is why we provide all these features for the affordable price of just $25 per month. Let us handle the business of child care so you can get back to caring for your children.
To learn more about Procare home version, click below.
*Please note that the report you see only factors in cost and time savings for the in-home solution features. For Procare home version users that are interested in seeing how they can benefit from Procare’s full suite of capabilities, contact us today to speak to a Procare representative. *Please note that the report you see only factors in cost and time savings for the in-home solution features. For Procare home version users that are interested in seeing how they can benefit from Procare’s full suite of capabilities, contact us today to speak to a Procare representative. *Please note that the classroom management functionality is not available for in-home users. For Procare home version users that are interested in seeing how they can benefit from Procare’s full suite of capabilities, contact us today to speak to a Procare representative.
| Cost & Time Savings | |
|---|---|
| Date | 2025-03-09 |
| Automation | Payment Processing |
| Number of Staff | |
| Number of Students | |
| Hourly Rate | $16.90 |
| Savings per Month | $139.93 and 8.28 hours |
Procare Cost and Time Savings Calculator
| Family Registration | Manual | Procare | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Task | Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) | Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) |
| Enrollment | 0 hr | $0.00 | 0 hr | $0.00 |
| Waitlist / Lead Management | 0 hr | $0.00 | 0 hr | $0.00 |
| eDocuments | 0 hr | $0.00 | 0 hr | $0.00 |
| Family Data Entry / Management | 0 hr | $0.00 | 0 hr | $0.00 |
| Health and Immunization Records | 0 hr | $0.00 | 0 hr | $0.00 |
| Total per month | 0 hr | $0.00 | 0 hr | $0.00 |
| Attendance Tracking | Manual | Procare | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Task | Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) | Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) |
| Check-in/Check-out | 0 hr | $0.00 | 0 hr | $0.00 |
| Class Roster Management | 1 hr | $16.90 | 0.05 hr | $0.85 |
| Teacher-Student Ratio Tracking | 0.5 hr | $8.45 | 0.2 hr | $3.38 |
| Total per month | 1.5 hr | $25.35 | 0.25 hr | $4.22 |
| Family Communication and Engagement | Manual | Procare | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Task | Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) | Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) |
| Child Activity Tracking | 0 hr | $0.00 | 0 hr | $0.00 |
| Family Messaging | 0 hr | $0.00 | 0 hr | $0.00 |
| Staff Messaging | 0 hr | $0.00 | 0 hr | $0.00 |
| Meal Planning | 1 hr | $16.90 | 0.1 hr | $1.69 |
| Total per month | 1 hr | $16.90 | 0.1 hr | $1.69 |
| Financials | Manual | Procare | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Task | Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) | Time(hr/month) | Cost($/month) |
| Payroll | 0 hr | $0.00 | 0 hr | $0.00 |
| Financial Reporting | 8 hr | $135.20 | 1 hr | $16.90 |
| Business Planning and Reporting | 2 hr | $33.80 | 0.2 hr | $3.38 |
| Staff Time Tracking / Scheduling | 0 hr | $0.00 | 0 hr | $0.00 |
| Total per month | 10 hr | $169.00 | 1.2 hr | $20.28 |
