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Managing Student Billing during COVID-19 Closures
Managing Student Billing during COVID-19 Closures

With brightwheel Billing, administrators are equipped with efficient options to pause or stop billing during an unexpected program closure.

Hadleigh F avatar
Written by Hadleigh F
Updated over a week ago

brightwheel Billing makes it fast and easy to manage Billing plans for short-term or longer-term closures. Providers who are facing unexpected or unplanned closures due to COVID-19 or other factors have the option to pause or cancel student billing.

Pausing billing means that no charges or invoices will be sent by plans until the plans are resumed, and is the most efficient solution for short-term closures. Cancelling billing will stop sending charges or invoices altogether until new plans are created, and is the best option for long-term or indefinite closures.

Steps to pause and cancel billing will vary depending on which version of brightwheel's billing platform is active in the program's account.

Not sure which version your program uses? See Which Billing version am I using?

Table of Contents

🟠 Pause or Cancel in Billing Version 1

Administrators using version 1 of brightwheel's Billing platform have the option to pause or cancel a student billing plans individually or in bulk. Billing Version 1 will have an orange badge on the Billing Settings page to indicate the version (Which Billing version am I using?).

Pause for a Short-Term Closure

Pausing a plan will mean that no invoices will be created or sent by the plan until it has been unpause. Students with paused plans can still have ad hoc invoices created and sent if needed.

  1. Log into brightwheel on the web

  2. Open the Billing tab

  3. Select Plans

  4. Use the orange toggle to show Students with Plans

  5. Locate the plan that needs to be paused

  6. Click the Actions drop-down menu, and choose Pause

  7. Click Yes! Pause This Plan to confirm

Paused plans can be unpaused at any time by repeating these steps, and choosing Unpause from the Actions drop-down menu.

Cancel for a Long-Term Closure

Cancelling a plan will mean that no more invoices will be sent or created by the plan. Administrators will be able to create a new plan, or to send ad hoc invoices as needed.

  1. Log into brightwheel on the web

  2. Open the Billing tab

  3. Select Plans

  4. Use the orange toggle to show Students with Plans

  5. Locate the plan that needs to be paused

  6. Click the Actions drop-down menu, and choose Cancel

  7. Click Yes! Cancel This Plan to confirm

🟣 Pause or Delete in Billing Version 2

Administrators using version 2 of brightwheel's Billing platform have the option to pause or delete a student's billing plan individually or in bulk. Billing Version 1 will have a purple badge on the Billing Settings page to indicate the version (Which Billing version am I using?).

Pause for a Short-Term Closure

Through the Billing tab Administrators can quickly Pause billing plans for multiple students, for a set amount of time or indefinitely.

  1. Log in to brightwheel on the web

  2. Open the Billing tab

  3. Click on Plans

  4. Use the checkboxes to select the plan(s) that should be paused, or use the checkbox at the top to select all plans

  5. Review the selection to confirm, and click Pause plan(s)

  6. In the Resume these plans? window that appears, administrators can opt to choose a date for the plans to resume, or pause the plans indefinitely until manually resumed

Learn more about bulk managing billing plans in Billing Version 2, including pausing, resuming, and deleting.

Delete for a Long-Term Closure

When a plan is deactivated, no more recurring charges will be sent for the student. One-time charges can still be added manually if needed, and all records for all posted transactions, like charges and payments, will still be stored and accessible from the student's billing account.

  1. Log into your brightwheel account on the web

  2. Open the Billing tab

  3. Select Plans

  4. Use the checkboxes to the left of each student’s name to select which plans should be paused, or use the checkbox at the top to select all plans

  5. Review the selection to confirm, and click Delete Plan(s)

  6. Confirm the action by clicking Yes, delete plans in the Delete these plans? window that appears

After plans are deleted, administrators will be able to create new plans at any time.

🟢 Pause or Deactivate in Billing Version 3

Administrators using brightwheel's newest billing experience (version 3) have the option to pause or deactivate a student's billing plan individually or in bulk. Billing Version 3 will have a green badge on the Billing Settings page to indicate the version. (Which Billing version am I using?)

Pause for a Short-Term Closure

Administrators can pause and resume one, multiple, or all plans in bulk with only a few clicks!

  1. Log into brightwheel on the web

  2. Open the Billing tab

  3. Click on Students, and select Student Plans

  4. Use the checkboxes to select the plan(s) that should be paused, or use the checkbox at the top to select all plans

  5. Click Pause Selected Plans from the bottom bar

  6. Select the day that the plans should resume, and click Confirm

If no additional action is taken, plans will resume on the selected date. If the plans should be resumed earlier, simply repeat these steps and then choose Resume Selected Plans.

Deactivate for a Long-Term Closure

For longer-term closures, or for programs that don't have an anticipated return date, plans can be completely deactivated and then re-created when needed.

When a plan is deactivated, no more associated charges will be sent for the student. All historical transaction records, like posted charges and payments, will still be retained and accessible from the student's billing account.

  1. Log into brightwheel on the web

  2. Open the Billing tab

  3. Click on Students, and select Student Plans

  4. Use the checkboxes to select the plan(s) that should be paused, or use the checkbox at the top to select all plans

  5. Click Deactivate selected plans from the bottom bar

  6. Confirm that all upcoming unposted invoices & charges should be removed

When it's time to begin billing students, plans can be created again.

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