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Fees Management

1. Overview​

The Fees & Payments module helps an Organization manage the financial relationship with its students.

For the MVP, Tutorog should primarily focus on fee management and payment tracking rather than attempting to become a full accounting system.

The system should help an organization answer:

Who needs to pay, how much have they paid, what is outstanding, and when is it due?

For parents and students, it should answer:

What do I owe, what have I already paid, and what payments are coming up?

2. Purpose​

The Fees module should allow organizations to:

  • Define fees for courses or enrollments.
  • Record payments.
  • Track outstanding balances.
  • Manage payment schedules.
  • Issue payment receipts.
  • View payment history.
  • Send payment reminders.
  • Monitor collection performance.

For parents/students, it should provide:

  • Clear fee information.
  • Payment history.
  • Outstanding balances.
  • Due dates.
  • Receipts.
  • Payment status.

3. Fees vs Payments​

Tutorog should distinguish between a fee obligation and an actual payment.

Fee​

Defines:

How much the student is expected to pay.

Payment​

Records:

How much the student actually paid.

For example:

Enrollment
Mathematics Foundation

Agreed Fee: ₹12,000
       │
       ├── Payment: ₹4,000
       ├── Payment: ₹4,000
       └── Payment: ₹2,000
       
Paid: ₹10,000
Outstanding: ₹2,000

This separation is important for installments, partial payments, refunds, and historical records.

4. Relationship with Course & Enrollment​

A Course may define a default price, but the actual financial obligation should be associated with the student's enrollment.

For example:

Course
Mathematics Foundation
Default Fee: ₹12,000
       │
       ▼
Enrollment
Aarav
Agreed Fee: ₹10,000
Discount: ₹2,000
       │
       ▼
Payments
₹5,000 + ₹5,000

This allows the organization to provide:

  • Discounts.
  • Scholarships.
  • Special pricing.
  • Different payment arrangements.

The original agreed amount should remain unchanged even if the Course's current price changes later.

5. Fee Lifecycle​

A fee obligation can follow:

Created
   ↓
Due
   ↓
Partially Paid
   ↓
Paid

Other possible states include:

Due → Overdue
Due → Waived
Due → Cancelled

Created​

The financial obligation has been established.

Due​

Payment is expected.

Partially Paid​

Some amount has been received but a balance remains.

The full amount has been received.

Overdue​

The payment has passed its due date.

Waived​

The organization has chosen not to collect the amount.

6. Payment Status​

Payment status should be derived from the relationship between the amount due and payments received.

For example:

Fee: ₹12,000

Paid: ₹8,000
       ↓
Status: Partially Paid
       ↓
Outstanding: ₹4,000

Possible statuses:

  • Pending
  • Partially Paid
  • Paid
  • Overdue
  • Waived
  • Cancelled

7. Payment Plans​

Organizations may collect fees in different ways.

Full Payment​

₹12,000
Due: 1 September

Monthly​

₹2,000 × 6 months

Installments​

₹4,000 — 1 Sep
₹4,000 — 1 Nov
₹4,000 — 1 Jan

The MVP should support simple payment schedules without attempting to model every possible accounting arrangement.

8. Recording a Payment​

The Organization Owner or authorized staff should be able to record a payment.

Typical workflow:

Select Student
      ↓
Select Enrollment
      ↓
Select Fee / Installment
      ↓
Enter Amount
      ↓
Select Payment Method
      ↓
Record Payment
      ↓
Receipt Generated

Payment methods may include:

  • Cash
  • Bank transfer
  • UPI
  • Card
  • Online payment
  • Other

The initial MVP can support manually recorded payments, with online payment integrations added later.

9. Payment Information​

A payment record should capture information such as:

  • Student
  • Enrollment
  • Organization
  • Amount
  • Payment date
  • Payment method
  • Transaction/reference number where applicable
  • Receipt number
  • Notes
  • Payment status

Example:

Payment

Student: Aarav
Enrollment: Mathematics Foundation

Amount: ₹4,000
Date: 25 Aug 2026
Method: UPI

Reference: UPI-XXXX

Status: Successful

10. Receipts​

The organization should be able to provide a receipt for recorded payments.

A receipt may contain:

  • Organization name
  • Student name
  • Course/batch
  • Amount paid
  • Payment date
  • Payment method
  • Receipt number
  • Remaining balance where applicable

Parents should be able to access their payment receipts from their account.

The receipt should represent the actual payment, not simply the fee obligation.

11. Parent / Guardian Experience​

The parent should have a clear view of their children's fees.

For example:

MY CHILDREN

Aarav
Mathematics Foundation

Total Fee       ₹12,000
Paid             ₹8,000
Outstanding      ₹4,000

Next Due:
10 September

[ View Details ]

For multiple children:

Aarav
Outstanding: ₹4,000

Ananya
Paid in Full

Rohan
Outstanding: ₹2,500

The parent should never have to manually calculate what is owed.

12. Student Experience​

Students may have limited access to financial information depending on their age and organization settings.

Where permitted, a student may see:

  • Course fee.
  • Payment status.
  • Outstanding amount.
  • Due dates.

For parent-managed children, the parent may be the primary person responsible for financial information.

This should be configurable based on the organization's policies and the student's circumstances.

13. Organization Owner Experience​

The Organization Owner should have a financial overview.

Example:

FEES OVERVIEW

Expected        ₹2,40,000
Collected       ₹1,95,000
Outstanding       ₹45,000

────────────────────────

NEEDS ATTENTION

12 payments due
5 payments overdue
3 partial payments

The owner should be able to drill down into individual students and enrollments.

14. Fee Dashboard​

Useful MVP metrics include:

Collection​

  • Total fees expected.
  • Total collected.
  • Total outstanding.

Status​

  • Paid.
  • Partially paid.
  • Due.
  • Overdue.

Activity​

  • Payments received today.
  • Payments received this month.
  • Recent payments.

Action Items​

  • Upcoming due payments.
  • Overdue payments.
  • Missing payment records.

The dashboard should focus on actionable financial information, rather than trying to replace accounting software.

15. Payment Reminders​

Tutorog should eventually help organizations remind parents/students about upcoming or overdue payments.

Possible reminders:

Upcoming​

Your Mathematics Foundation fee of ₹2,000 is due on 10 September.

Due Today​

Your Mathematics Foundation fee of ₹2,000 is due today.

Overdue​

Your Mathematics Foundation fee of ₹2,000 is overdue.

Reminder channels may eventually include:

  • In-app notification.
  • Email.
  • SMS.
  • WhatsApp.

The MVP can start with in-app notifications and email, depending on the overall notification infrastructure.

16. Online Payments​

Online payment processing can be introduced as a separate capability.

The flow could become:

Parent
  ↓
View Outstanding Fee
  ↓
Pay Online
  ↓
Payment Gateway
  ↓
Payment Successful
  ↓
Tutorog Records Payment
  ↓
Receipt

Payment gateways should not be tightly coupled to the core fee model.

This allows Tutorog to support different providers in the future.

17. Refunds​

Refunds should be treated separately from payments.

For example:

Fee Obligation
₹12,000

Payments
₹12,000

Refund
₹2,000

Net Paid
₹10,000

The original payment should not simply be deleted or modified.

A refund should create a separate financial record so the history remains auditable.

18. Discounts & Waivers​

Organizations may provide:

  • Discounts.
  • Scholarships.
  • Promotional offers.
  • Partial fee waivers.

For example:

Course Fee          ₹12,000
Discount             ₹2,000
────────────────────────────
Agreed Fee          ₹10,000

The discount should be captured explicitly rather than simply changing the course price.

This preserves the original course pricing and the student's actual agreement.

19. Historical Accuracy​

Financial records should be treated as historical records.

For example:

2026 Enrollment
Agreed Fee: ₹10,000

2027 Course Price
₹12,000

The 2026 enrollment should continue to show:

₹10,000

It should not automatically change because the course's current price was updated.

Similarly, recorded payments should not be silently edited to change historical information.

Corrections should preferably be handled through appropriate adjustment or audit mechanisms.

20. Fees & Enrollment Lifecycle​

The overall relationship is:

Course
   │
   │ Default Price
   ▼
Batch
   │
   ▼
Enrollment
   │
   │ Agreed Fee
   ▼
Fee / Payment Schedule
   │
   ├── Payment
   ├── Payment
   └── Payment

This keeps the financial model connected to the student's actual participation.

21. Permissions​

Platform Administrator​

Should generally have visibility for:

  • Platform support.
  • Dispute resolution.
  • Fraud or abuse investigation.

They should not normally manage an organization's everyday fee collection.

Organization Owner​

Can:

  • Define fees.
  • Manage fee schedules.
  • Record payments.
  • Issue receipts.
  • View outstanding fees.
  • Send reminders.
  • Manage refunds/adjustments where authorized.

Tutor / Trainer​

Normally should have no fee management access, unless explicitly granted by the organization.

Parent / Guardian​

Can:

  • View fees for their children.
  • View payment history.
  • View receipts.
  • Make payments where supported.

Student​

Access depends on age and organization policy.

22. What Fees Should NOT Become​

The MVP should avoid turning Tutorog into a complete accounting platform.

Tutorog does not initially need to handle:

  • Full accounting ledgers.
  • Tax accounting.
  • Payroll.
  • Expense management.
  • Organization bookkeeping.
  • Bank reconciliation.
  • Financial statements.

The primary purpose is:

Manage the financial relationship between an organization and its students.

23. Success Criteria​

The Organization Owner should feel:

"I know exactly who has paid and who still owes money."

The Parent should feel:

"I always know what I need to pay and where my money went."

The Student should feel:

"I can see the relevant fee information without being overwhelmed by financial administration."

Tutorog should provide:

  • Clarity — fees are easy to understand.
  • Accuracy — payment history is reliable.
  • Transparency — parents know what they owe.
  • Traceability — financial actions are recorded.
  • Convenience — payments and receipts are easy to manage.
  • Scalability — the model can support online payments later.

Core Principle​

Tutorog's Fees & Payments module should make student fee management simple and transparent without attempting to replace an organization's full accounting system.