Online fee payments into your own account: how it works in SkoolBro

Most fee offices still spend the first week of the month matching payments. A parent sends a screenshot of a wallet transfer, someone checks the bank statement, finds the right invoice and writes the receipt by hand. Online payment through the family portal removes most of that matching, as long as it is set up so the money reaches the school directly and every payment is checked before it counts. This guide explains how SkoolBro does it, what a school needs first and how to handle the payments that do not match.

The money goes to your account

Your school connects its own merchant account with a payment provider. When a family pays, they pay on the provider's own page, and the money goes straight into that account. SkoolBro never sees card numbers or wallet details and never holds the money.

This matters for two reasons. Settlement, refunds and any provider charges are between you and the provider, under your own agreement with them. And if you ever stop using SkoolBro, your merchant account stays exactly where it was.

Which providers are available

The first two are JazzCash and EasyPaisa, two payment providers widely used by families in Pakistan. Banks will follow. Each provider is connected the same way inside SkoolBro, so a gateway used in another country can be added later on the same pattern.

JazzCash and EasyPaisa are offered on request, for schools that already have merchant access. The steps are:

1. Apply to JazzCash or EasyPaisa for a merchant account for your school. They give you merchant details and keys.
2. Write to [email protected] to say which provider you use.
3. SkoolBro tests the connection with your details in the provider's sandbox and then switches it on for your school.

Until a provider has been switched on for your school, parents keep paying the way they do now, and the office records those payments with a receipt as before.

Connecting your merchant account

Once the provider is switched on, open Fee setup and then Online payments. Enter the merchant details and keys the provider gave you. SkoolBro stores the keys encrypted and never shows them again, so keep your own copy somewhere safe. If you need to change them, enter new ones.

There are two modes. Sandbox mode talks to the provider's test system, so you can make a payment with test details and watch it go through without real money. Live mode takes real payments. Start in sandbox, pay one test invoice from start to finish, check the receipt and then switch to live.

What families see

In the family portal, each open invoice now has a Pay now button. Here is how it goes for a parent at Greenfield Public School, a fictional school:

1. Mr Siddiqui opens the portal and sees his daughter's November invoice for tuition and books.
2. He taps Pay now and is taken to the provider's page, where he pays from his wallet.
3. The provider confirms the payment to SkoolBro.
4. SkoolBro checks the amount against the invoice, records the payment, issues the receipt and closes the invoice.
5. Back in the portal, he sees the invoice as paid.

Nobody in the office has to do anything for a payment like this one.

How SkoolBro keeps the record right

A payment is recorded only when the provider confirms it. A parent who closes the page halfway through, or whose wallet payment fails, does not end up with a paid invoice.

SkoolBro checks the amount the provider confirms against the invoice. A payment is never recorded twice: providers sometimes send the same confirmation more than once, and SkoolBro recognises the repeat.

When something does not match, for example a confirmed amount that differs from the invoice, the payment is not applied on its own. It shows as Needs a look so a person can decide what to do.

A routine for the fee office

The office has an Online payments list with every payment started from the portal and its status: waiting, paid, failed, cancelled or needs a look. A short routine keeps it under control:

• Each morning, open the list and look for payments marked Needs a look. Compare each one with your merchant account statement, then record or correct the payment on the invoice.
• Once a week, compare the total of paid online payments with what the provider settled into your account.
• Tell families in a notice when online payment starts, and remind them that the office still takes other payment methods.

Cash, bank transfers and cheques still go through the office as before, so online payment sits alongside the routine in simplifying school fee collection. For tuition and coaching centres, automating tuition fee collection covers monthly fees by batch.

What is not built yet

Bank gateways are not connected yet. Card payments depend on what each provider's page offers, since SkoolBro does not take card details itself. Providers outside Pakistan are not connected yet either, though the same setup is meant for them. If your school uses a gateway you would like to see, write to [email protected]. More on fees and the family portal is on the school management system page, and pricing shows what each plan includes.

Questions

Does SkoolBro hold the money families pay?

No. Families pay on the provider's own page and the money goes straight into your school's merchant account. SkoolBro never sees card or wallet details.

Can every school take JazzCash or EasyPaisa payments today?

They are set up on request. Your school first gets merchant access from the provider, then writes to [email protected]. SkoolBro tests the connection with your details and switches it on for you.

Who pays the provider's charges?

Any fees the provider charges are part of your school's own agreement with that provider.