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Manage student payers

[For Admins + Billing Only Role] Learn how to add, delete, or change the primary payer on a student's payer list.

Nicole avatar
Written by Nicole
Updated over a week ago

Providers can easily adjust a students list of payers responsible for paying tuition and fees. This includes adding new payers, deleting and also assigning the role of primary payer.

Only Administrators and Staff with the Billing Only permissions can make adjustments to a student's payer list.


Add a payer

Before adding a payer, the contact must first be added as a contact on their child's profile.

  1. Log in on the web

  2. Ensure the payer is listed as a contact (see how here)

  3. Click Billing > Students and select the student

  4. Go to Account details > ➕ Add Payer under the 'Payers tab'

Parent contacts are automatically listed as payers, so you only need to manually add Parent payers if they were previously removed or if the payer is listed as Family or Approved pickup (these types are not automatically added to the payers list).

Note: Staff with Billing Only permissions can manage payers but not student contacts. Please ask a admin to update the contact list before managing payers.


Remove a payer

  1. Log in on the web

  2. Click Billing > Students > Select the student

  3. Go to Account details

  4. Next to the payer click Actions > Remove payer

ℹ️ Important notes:

  • A payer cannot be removed until their open invoices are either reassigned, paid or voided. Also, any active bill plans/charges assigned to the payer must be reassigning or cancelled before removing.

  • If they are the primary payer and there are other payers still listed, they can't be removed until a new primary payer is assigned.


Change the Primary Payer

When you assign a new primary payer, any invoices previously assigned by default to the old primary payer will be reassigned to the new one. However, this won't affect invoices that were manually assigned to other payers or the original primary payer.

Only one contact can be listed as the primary payer at a time. This ensures that invoices are routed consistently to a designated individual or entity.

  1. Log in to brightwheel on the web.

  2. Navigate to the Billing section and select Students

  3. Choose the student whose primary payer needs updating

  4. On the Account Details page, locate the non-primary payer's name

  5. Use the Actions menu beside their name and select Make Primary Payer


Edit billing plans to assign a new payer

To reassign a payer or add a new one to a billing plan, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to the Billing Plan of the student

  2. Click the Actions button, then select View / Edit

  3. In the Charges section, click the Actions button again and choose Assign Amount to Specific Payer

  4. Toggle Split Charge Across Payers to on (if applicable)

  5. Select the new contact to assign the plan and deselect the existing payer

  6. Save your changes to the charge and the billing plan.

This change only applies to future invoices generated by the updated billing plan. Previously issued invoices remain unaffected. For unpaid invoices, consider voiding and recreating them with the correct payer or processing manual payments.


Manage subsidy agencies as payers

To learn more about adding or removing a subsidy payer from a student's account, please review Getting Started with Subsidies.


FAQs

Can Emergency Contacts be added as a payer?

Emergency Contacts cannot be added as a payer at this time. We recommend adding them as Family or a Approved Pickup instead if you wish to list them as a payer.

Who can add and manage payers?

Only a program Administrator and staff with Billing Only permissions can add payers and change the primary payer on a student’s billing account.

Parents and Payers cannot update the primary payer on a student's billing account. Payers need to contact their program administrator for assistance with changing the primary payer.

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