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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 yesterday

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. 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).

  1. Log in to brightwheel on the web

  2. Ensure the payer is listed as a contact on the child's profile (see how here)

  3. Click Billing > Students and select the student

  4. Go to the Account details tab

  5. Click ➕ Add Payer under the 'Payers tab'

  6. Select the contact(s) > Click Add

  7. (Optional) If the new contact should be the primary payer, take steps below to change the primary payer

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 to brightwheel on the web

  2. Go to Billing in the sidebar menu

  3. Click the Students tab and click the student

  4. Select the Account details tab

  5. Click Actions > Remove payer

  6. If they are the primary payer, you'll be prompted to select a new primary payer before removing the original

Note:

  • 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.

  1. Log in to brightwheel on the web

  2. Go to Billing > Students and select the student

  3. Click the Account details tab

  4. Click Actions > Make primary payer


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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