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Getting Started with Subsidies
Getting Started with Subsidies

[For Admins + Billing Only Role] Learn all the steps needed to get setup on our newest Subsidy management experience!

Sabrina avatar
Written by Sabrina
Updated over a week ago

Brightwheel now offers a brand new Subsidies payment management experience that helps administrators simplify managing their agency payments by giving a complete picture of agency invoices, balances, and payments right from within brightwheel billing. Subsidies will be fully integrated with bill plans, student profiles, and reports.

🎉 Follow the four easy, getting-started steps outlined below to get accurate tracking of past and future subsidy payments!

Migrating from our Legacy Subsidy Experience

If you previously used our legacy subsidy experience and have been migrated to our new experience, we're so excited to share this update with you! This experience helps administrators simplify managing their agency payments by giving a complete picture of agency invoices, balances, and payments right from within brightwheel billing.

Accessing Data from the Legacy Experience

In the new experience, admins are provided a clean slate and can get easily get set up by following the rest of this resource. Data from the legacy experience is not transferred to the new experience and is instead accessible through a downloadable report as needed by following these steps:

  1. Navigate to the Billing page from your account on the web

  2. Open the Subsidies tab

  3. Click the Download subsidy data link below the “Subsidies” header and above the agencies table

  4. Open the .csv report downloaded in your browser to view information on past subsidy charges, payments, write-offers, and more.

💡 If, after migration, you are looking to recreate the starting balances for students/agencies to know much your program is owed and/or recreate recurring subsidy charges, we've provided some additional guidance in our resource here to assist you.

When you're ready to dive into setting up the new experience, continue following along below! 🎉

Subsidies Tracking Overview

Review our Subsidy Tracking Overview resource for detailed insight on the Subsidies Dashboard, Agency Summary page, Payer Type Field, and learn what reporting options are available!

If you're a visual learner, watch this tutorial video that overviews the 4 getting-started steps below!

Step 1: Add Agency

Adding an agency is the first step to tracking subsidies in brightwheel Billing.

  1. Log in to an administrator account on the web

  2. Click to open the Billing tab on the purple sidebar menu

  3. Jump to the Subsidies tab

  4. Click the Add agency button

  5. Fill in the Agency's name

  6. Fill in any other applicable contact information
    💡The name is the only required field

  7. Click Create agency

Step 2: Add Agency as a Payer

Once you've added the agency, you can add them as a payer on students' billing accounts. Just as Family and Approved Pickups can be added as payers, agencies can now be added in the same way. Agencies can be added individually as a payer for a student or in bulk to multiple students.

  1. Log in to an administrator account on the web

  2. Click to open the Billing tab on the purple sidebar menu

  3. Jump to the Subsidies tab

  4. Click the agency to open the agencies profile

  5. Jump to the Students tab

  6. Click + Add students

  7. Use the available filters to narrow down the list of students to select from

  8. Check the box next to each student who should be associated with the agency. If there are multiple, select them all!

  9. Click Add students

💡 If needed, learn how to Remove an Agency as a Payer!

Step 3: Create Billing Plans

Once you've added an agency's contact information and added them as a payer on the student(s) billing account - it's time to set up a billing plan.

  1. Open the Billing page on the web

  2. Jump to the Subsidies page

  3. Open the applicable agency by clicking the agency's name

  4. On the agency's dashboard, click to open the Students tab

  5. Locate the student the billing plan should be created for

  6. On that student's row, select Create plan

  7. Set rate

    1. Select Start from scratch

    2. Select the Billing frequency at which payers will receive invoices using the drop-down

    3. Click + Create a new charge

      1. Input the charge information and amount expected from the agency for the student based on the frequency you selected in Step 7.b.
        💡 The agency will be auto assigned as the payer!

  8. Click Next

  9. What will this billing plan be called? - input the billing name name

  10. When will this plan be in effect?

    1. First payment due date - select when the first payment is expected from the agency for this student

    2. Last payment due date [Optional] - select when the last payment is expected from the agency if this information is known or otherwise, leave blank

    3. When should payers receive invoices? - select any option; we will not send invoices directly to the agency at this point in time

  11. Review the Payer experience box on the right side of the screen to determine if any changes are needed (and if so, use the Back button to perform them)

  12. When ready, click Create plan

ℹ️ Billing plans for students receiving subsidized payments can also be created from any billing page with the Select an Action menu present on it, detailed steps here. If creating a plan on any other page than the Subsidies dashboard, it's important to remember to toggle the option to assign charges to a specific payer to YES to select the agency. When following the steps above, this is not needed because the agency is auto assigned as the payer.

💡 TIPS:

  • Create bill plan templates for agency charges that do occur regularly for easier and more efficient tracking!

  • Record one-off agency charges for subsidies that may not recur on a regular frequency by adding one-time charges.

Step 4: Log Agency Payments

Agency payments can be logged on posted invoices associated with agency billing plans or a one-time charge already added. In addition to this, logging a payment without a bill plan/invoice is an option if you want to record an agency payment quickly and aren’t looking for full tracking of money owed by agencies. You can still go back and create an invoice after the fact! Learn more by reviewing the steps below.

Log a Payment on an Invoice

  1. Log in as an administrator on the web

  2. Click to open the Billing page from the purple sidebar menu

  3. Jump to the Subsidies tab

  4. Locate and click the agency to open its profile

  5. Scroll down the Invoices section and locate the invoice to be paid

  6. Click the Actions drop-down menu, and select Log a payment

  7. In the Paid By dropdown, select the agency

  8. In the Payment method dropdown, select how the agency paid

  9. Input the Amount paid

  10. Input the Date paid

  11. Add an optional note

  12. When ready, click Save & apply

💡You can also log a payment against a posted invoice for a subsidy agency from the student's billing account!

Log a Payment without a Billing Plan/Invoice

  1. Log in as an administrator on the web

  2. Click to open the Billing page from the purple sidebar menu

  3. Jump to the Students tab

  4. Locate and click to open the specific student

  5. Click the Select an action menu and then Log a payment

  6. In the Paid By dropdown, select the agency

  7. In the Payment method dropdown, select how the agency paid

  8. Input the Amount paid

  9. Input the Date paid

  10. Add an optional note

  11. When ready, click Save & apply

💡If needed, Learn how to View Agency Payments and Handle Underpayments!

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