PeopleSoft Student Financials 9.0 PeopleBook

Setting Up Payment Plans

This chapter lists common elements and discusses how to:

Set up deferral contracts.
Set up payment plan contracts.
Set up third-party contracts.
Set up third-party contract groups.
Create and process third-party contract change requests.
Set up collection agreements.

Common Elements Used in This Chapter

Status

Enter the status of the contract. Values are:

Active: Select to make the contract available for use.

Cancelled: Select to cancel the contract.

Hold: Select to prevent new students from being added to the contract, but not to discontinue its use completely.

Inactive: Select to discontinue use of the contract.

Billing Cycle

Select the billing cycle for the payment plan. Values are:

Bi-Monthly: Select to bill students every other month.

Monthly: Select to bill students each month.

One Time: Select to bill students only once.

User Selected: Select to specify billing and due dates rather than having the system generate the schedules.

Weekly: Select to bill students weekly.

Setting Up Deferral Contracts

To set up deferral contracts, use the Create Deferral Contract component (DEFERRAL_CONTRACT).

This section discusses how to:

Define basic deferral contract parameters.
Define deferral contract administrative fees.
Define deferral contract eligible charges and maximum amounts.

Note. Audit trail is captured in TP_DATE for any changes to the deferral contract.

Pages Used to Set Up Deferral Contracts

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Deferral Contract	DEFER_CONTRACT	Student Financials, Payment Plans, Payment Plan, Create Deferral Contract, Deferral Contract	Define basic deferral contract parameters.
Deferral Contract Fee	DEFER_CONTRACT_FEE	Student Financials, Payment Plans, Payment Plan, Create Deferral Contract, Deferral Contract Fee	Define deferral contract administrative fees.
Deferral Contract Charges	TP_CONTRACT_CHRG	Student Financials, Payment Plans, Payment Plan, Create Deferral Contract, Deferral Contract Charges	Define deferral contract eligible charges and maximum amounts.

Defining Basic Deferral Contract Parameters

Access the Deferral Contract page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Payment Plan, Create Deferral Contract, Deferral Contract).

Term

Select the term to which the contract applies.

Tree Name

Select the item type tree name that includes the charge item types that you cover under this plan.

Student Max (student maximum)

Enter the maximum amount that you want to allow any one student to defer under the contract. Be sure to set this amount high enough to meet your needs. The system does not defer eligible charges that cause the deferred amount to exceed the student maximum. For example, if the student maximum is 10,000 USD and the system already deferred 8,500 USD, it rejects a new eligible charge of 2,000 USD because the total exceeds the defined maximum.

From Date and To Date

Set the date range for the deferral contract. The system defers eligible charges only when the item effective date is within this date range.

Due Date/Days and Bill Date/Days

Set the time unit to use to calculate the payment's due date and bill date. Options are:

Due Date: If you select this option, the Defer Date field becomes available.

Due Days: If you select this option, the Defer Days field becomes available.

Defer Days

If you select Due Days in the Due Date/Days and Bill Date/Days fields, enter the number of days from the transaction's effective date that the system defers the due date and bill date.

Defer Date

If you select Due Date in the Due Date/Days field, set the date that the payment is due and the date that you want it billed regardless of the charge effective date.

Copy Contracts

Click the Copy button to copy an existing deferral contract as the basis of a new deferral contract. You can copy all contract setup information except for term and date information.

Access the Copy Contract page (click the Copy button on the Deferral Contract page).

New Contract Number

Enter a new number for the copied contract.

If auto numbering is enabled on the SF Business Unit Payment Plan Contract Set Up page, NEXT is automatically assigned as the new contract number. You can change the contract number.

Description

Enter a description for the copied contract.

Copy All Values

Select to copy all other related contract information from the previous contract.

Enter the desired information and click Save. You are returned to the Deferral Contract page, where you can modify the new contract information as desired.

Defining Deferral Contract Administrative Fees

Access the Deferral Contract Fee page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Payment Plan, Create Deferral Contract, Deferral Contract Fee).

Assessment Fee

Enter the amount of the administrative fee that you want to charge for this contract.

Account Type

Enter the account type designated for payment plans.

Assess Item Type

Enter the item type of the assessment fee.

Due Date/Days and Bill Date/Days

Define the parameters for calculating the due date for the assessment fee.

Use

Select how you want to calculate the due date and bill date for the assessment fee. Values are:

Due Date: Select to specify a specific date for the assessment fee to be due and billed. When you select this option, the Due Date field becomes available.

Due Days: Select to make the assessment fee due and billed a certain number of days after it is assessed. When you select this option, the Due after Days field becomes available.

Due after Days

In both the Due Date/Days and Bill Date/Days group boxes, enter the number of days after the system posts the assessment fee that it becomes due and is billed.

Due Date

In both the Due Date/Days and Bill Date/Days group boxes, enter the actual date that you want the assessment fee due and billed.

Defining Deferral Contract Eligible Charges and Maximum Amounts

Access the Deferral Contract Charges page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Payment Plan, Create Deferral Contract, Deferral Contract Charges).

Eligible Charge Parameters

Line# (line number)

This field is automatically populated as you add new charge nodes.

Tree Node

Select the item type tree node to designate charges that are covered under this contract.

Max Amount (maximum amount)

Enter the maximum amount that can be deferred under the corresponding tree node. Be sure to set this amount high enough to meet your needs. Eligible charges are selected for deferment on an individual basis and the sum of charges within the node must not exceed the maximum amount.

For example, using the previous setup, suppose that a student has tuition charges of 1,500 USD and 3,800 USD, and a housing charge of 4,900 USD. Because the total of the tuition charges exceeds the maximum amount of 5,000 USD, the system defers only one of the tuition charges. The housing charge is within the maximum amount limit and the combined total of the single tuition charge and housing charge does not exceed the student maximum amount, allowing both to be deferred.

Setting Up Payment Plan Contracts

To set up payment plan contracts, use the Create Payment Plan component (TP_PAYMENT_PLAN).

Note. Audit trail is captured in TP_CONTRACT for any changes to the payment plan.

This section discusses how to:

Define basic payment plan contract parameters.
Define payment plan type, eligible charges, and time frame.
Define payment plan item types.
Define self-service options.
Define payment plan administrative fees.

Pages Used to Set Up Payment Plan Contracts

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Payment Plan 1	TP_PAYMENT_PLAN	Student Financials, Payment Plans, Payment Plan, Create, Payment Plan 1	Define basic payment plan contract parameters.
Payment Plan 2	TP_PAYMENT_PLAN3	Student Financials, Payment Plans, Payment Plan, Create, Payment Plan 2	Define payment plan type, eligible charges, and time frame.
Payment Plan Item Type	TP_PAYMENT_PLN2	Student Financials, Payment Plans, Payment Plan, Create, Payment Plan Item Type	Define payment plan item types.
Self Service Options	SSF_TP_PMT_PLAN4	Student Financials, Payment Plans, Payment Plan, Create, Self Service Options	Define self-service options.
Payment Plan Fee	TP_CONTRACT_ASSESS	Student Financials, Payment Plans, Payment Plan, Create, Payment Plan Fee	Define payment plan administrative fees.

Defining Basic Payment Plan Contract Parameters

Access the Payment Plan 1 page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Payment Plan, Create, Payment Plan 1).

Description

Enter a description. This will also appear in Self Service Enroll in a Payment Plan.

Pay Plan Type

Define how the system credits payments made to this plan. Values are:

Credit the Original Account: Select to credit all eligible charges and create a new payment plan charge.

Create Billing Entries: This option should not be used with any of the three payment plans.

Status

Specify whether the payment plan contract is active or inactive. You can change the status of a contract to Inactive regardless of the status of any students that are associated with it.

Note. You should change the contract status to Inactive on any calculated payment plans for previous terms. This enhances performance because of the way the system automatically recalculates active contracts. An active contract is one for which both the contract and student status have a value of Active, and the last date of the contract is greater than the current system date. When the system recalculates contracts for a student, it evaluates all active contracts for that student. You do not need to set the student status to Inactive to receive this performance benefit as long as you have set the appropriate contract status to Inactive.

Total Budget Amt (total budget amount)

This should be defined in conjunction with all eligible charges. Enter the maximum amount of installment payments that a student can make through the payment plan account. Carefully consider all eligible charges when you establish this figure to make sure that it is high enough to cover all the intended costs.

For lump sum plans, the total budget amount becomes the default lump sum amount. You can adjust this amount for each student who is linked to the plan.

First Bill Date

Set the date on which you generate the first bill for the payment plan. The system uses the first bill date and the billing cycle to set the billing dates for the duration of the payment plan. You can override this setting for each student who is linked to the plan.

Note. The billing program does not acknowledge the payment plan until on or after the first bill date specified. For example, if your first bill date is set for November 16 and you run your billing process on the 15^th, the system does not process Payment Plan billing until the next run.

Payment Due Days

Enter the number of days after the bill date that the payment is due.

Number of Payments

Enter the number of payments (installments) that students must make to pay off the plan. The system uses the information in this field as the default value. You can override the number of payments for each student who is linked to the plan.

Term

This field is required for calculated payment plans. Enter the term that the system posts on the payment plan credit and the installments.

This field is optional for existing and lump-sum payment plans.

Note. When a payment plan covers charges in more then one term, you must clear the Account Per Term check box on the Accounts Types page for the payment plan account type.

Last Date

Enter the last date that charges can be added or adjusted and still be picked up by the plan.

Service Impact

Enter the service impact that would prevent enrollment into the payment plan.

This prevents enrollment into the payment plan through Batch Assignment, Assign Page, and Self Service.

Plan Type

Select the value of the HR plan type that applies to the payroll deduction code.

Payroll Deduction

Enter the code of the payroll deduction that applies to the payment plan account.

Note. Assigning a payroll deduction code to a payment plan is necessary only if you plan to restrict payroll deductions to apply to payment plan accounts.

Copy Contracts

Click the Copy button to copy an existing payment plan contract as the basis of a new payment plan contract. You can copy all contract setup information except for term and date information.

Access the Copy Contract page (click the Copy button on the Payment Plan 1 page).

New Contract Number

Enter a new number for the copied contract.

If auto numbering is enabled on the SF Business Unit payment plan contract set up page, NEXT is automatically assigned as the new contract number. You can change the contract number.

Description

Enter a description for the copied contract.

Copy All Values

Select to copy all other related contract information from the previous contract.

Enter the desired information and click Save. You are returned to the Payment Plan 1 page, where you can modify the new contract information as desired.

See Also

Setting Up Payroll Deduction

Defining Payment Plan Type, Eligible Charges, and Time Frame

Access the Payment Plan 2 page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Payment Plan, Create, Payment Plan 2).

Plan Type

Select the plan type from the following values:

Calculated: Select to determine which charges to include based on the rules that you define on this page. If you use this option, each time that you calculate or recalculate the payment plan, the system picks up all eligible charges and adds them to the plan balance. You can also use the Calculate Real Time option to have the contract recalculated each time an eligible change occurs in the student's account. This is available for Self Service Enroll in a Payment Plan.

Existing: Select to manually choose which charges to include in each student's payment plan at the time you add the student to the plan.

Note. When you choose Existing, the rest of the fields (with the exception of Calculate Real Time) become unavailable.

Lump Sum: Select to create a payment plan for a fixed amount. This is the most basic type of plan and is useful for students who do not expect any changes to occur in their accounts and know how much they need to finance. This is available for Self Service Enroll in a Payment Plan.

Note. When you select the Lump Sum option, the Lump Sum Amount field becomes available and all other fields on the page become unavailable.

Maximum Amount

The maximum amount is set by default from the total budget amount and can be overridden, if needed. This field is available with calculated payment plans only.

Lump Sum Amount

Enter the lump sum amount that you want the contract to cover. The default value for this field is the total budget amount that is established on the Payment Plan 1 page. You can override this value, but you cannot exceed the total budget amount limit. This field is available with lump sum payment plans only.

Item Type Group

Select the item type group that includes all of the charges to be included in the payment plan. This field is available with calculated payment plans only.

Offset Item Type Group

Select the offset item type group that includes payments, financial aid, or both that the system uses to offset charges and thereby reduce the amount of the payment plan. This field is available with calculated payment plans only.

Term and Offset Term

In these group boxes, enter the range of terms for which the system includes charges and offsetting credits in the payment plan. These fields are available with calculated payment plans only.

Charge Date and Charge Offset Date

In these group boxes, specify when charges and offsetting credits can be added to or adjusted in the payment plan. These fields are available with calculated payment plans only.

Add	Enter the earliest date to include charges, offsetting credits, or both in the payment plan.
Adjust	Enter the last date on which you can adjust the payment plan for new charges or a reduction in charges, offsetting credits or both.

Anticipated Aid Term/Date

Enter the range of terms for which the system considers anticipated aid. These fields are available for the calculated payment plan, but not required.

From and To	Enter the earliest term and latest term for which the system considers anticipated aid.
Anticipated Aid Date	Enter the date that the system uses to determine whether anticipated aid is eligible. If this date is less than the current system date, the system disregards anticipated aid when it calculates the payment plan contract.

Calculate Real Time Check Box

Calculate Real Time

Select to automatically calculate payment plan charges whenever a change is made to eligible charges. This option affects all students who are associated with the plan, but you can override it at the student level. If you do not select this option, you must calculate payment plan agreements in batch mode.

Defining Payment Plan Item Types

Access the Payment Plan Item Type page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Payment Plan, Create, Payment Plan Item Type).

Adjustment Option

Enter how the system distributes changes to payment plan installments. See Increasing Payment Plan Contract Installments and Decreasing Payment Plan Contract Installments below for detailed information about this field and its values.

Extra Payments Option

Specify how the system applies payments that exceed the amount billed. Values are:

All Bills: Select to reduce the amount due in equal portions across all remaining bills.

First Bill: Select to reduce the amount of the next bill by the amount of the excess payment. If the excess is greater than the amount of the next bill, the system applies it to remaining bills in the order due.

Last Bill: Select to apply the excess amounts to the final bill of the contract.

Account Type

Enter the account type that you have defined for the plan.

Charge Item Type

Enter the charge item type. This creates the installment charges on the payment plan account.

Note. If this field is not available, change the payment plan type on the Payment Plan 1 page to Credit Original Account.

Billing Item Type

This field is not available for use with this type of payment plan. If the field is available, change the payment plan type on the Payment Plan 1 page to Credit Original Account.

Payment Item Type

Enter the payment item type to use to credit the tuition and fees covered by the payment plan.

Note. If this field is not available, change the payment plan type on the Payment Plan 1 page to Credit Original Account.

Note. How you set up the account types and item types that you use with your payment plans significantly affects the way the plan works. How you define your account types determines how charges and payments appear on the student's account. Item type setup controls how charges and payments are applied. Test your setup using different configurations to determine what works best for your situation.

Increasing Payment Plan Contract Installments

Anytime you add a new eligible charge to a payment plan contract or decrease a payment offset for a contract, the amount of the payment plan contract increases. When this happens, the system must distribute this increase to one or all of the payment plan contract installments.

For calculated payment plan contracts, the Adjustment Option field value determines how the system distributes increases to installments. Values are:

Adjust Equally: Distributes increases equally among the unbilled installments.
Adjust Last: Adds increases to the last unbilled installment.
Adjust First: Adds increases to the first unbilled installment.
Do Not Adjust: Does not allow increases.

Note. If all installments have been billed, you cannot increase the payment plan contract, regardless of the adjustment option. In addition, these adjustment options apply only if you have billed at least one installment. If no billing has occurred, the system adjusts equally by default.

For existing payment plan contracts, when you click the Calculate button, the system distributes increases equally among all installments. This happens regardless of the selected adjustment option or whether you have billed any installments. You can use the Payment Distribution page to manually update the installment amounts before posting.

Decreasing Payment Plan Contract Installments

Anytime you reverse or reduce an eligible charge from a payment plan contract or increase a payment offset for a contract, the amount of the payment plan contract decreases. When this happens, the system must distribute this decrease to the payment plan contract installments. Student Financials does not allow payment plan credits to have an unapplied balance. This means that unlike payment plan contract increases, payment plan contract decreases cannot be prevented. Even if all of the payment plan contract installments have been billed, or the payment plan is inactive, or the last adjustment date has passed, the system must adjust the installments whenever a payment plan contract amount decreases.

Similar to payment plan increases, the Adjustment Option field value determines how the system distributes decreases to installments. Because an individual installment can never be less than 0.00, however, the adjustment option rules don't always apply in exactly the same way that they do with payment plan contract increases. When the total amount of a payment plan contract decrease is greater than the amount of each individual installment, the adjustment option provides a starting point for the system to apply decreases. Values are:

Adjust First: Adjusts installments in ascending item number order.
Adjust Last: Adjusts installments in descending item number order.
Do Not Adjust: Adjusts installments in descending item number order.
Adjust Equally: Divides the adjustment amount equally across all installments.

If no unbilled installments exist for a payment plan contract decrease, or the total of the unbilled installments is less than the total decrease, the system adjusts installments in the following order using the starting point that is designated by the adjustment option:

Unbilled and unpaid installments.
Unbilled and paid installments.
Billed and unpaid installments.
Billed and paid installments.

For example, a payment plan contract with an adjustment option of Adjust Last has two unbilled installments of 200.00 USD each and undergoes a decrease of 500.00 USD. The system cannot apply the entire decrease to the last unbilled installment because that would bring the installment to an amount that is less than 0.00 USD, so it subtracts 200.00 USD from the last unbilled installment, and with the remaining 300.00 USD moves to the next to last unbilled installment. Again, it can apply only 200.00 USD to the installment, leaving an unapplied balance of 100.00 USD. The system subtracts this unapplied balance to one of the billed installments according to the order given previously.

Defining Self Service Options

Access the Self Service Options page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Payment Plan, Create, Self Service Options).

This self-service component enables students to link their charges to a specified payment plan. Only the calculated and lump sum payment plans are available for the self-service enrollment in a Payment Plan functionality.

If the student wants to revoke permission, this can be done only by the administrator, not by means of self service by the student.

Allow Self Service Enrollment	Select to enable self-service enrollment in the payment plan.
Self Service Description	Enter a useful summary of the payment plan that the system displays to the student.

Self Service Start Date and Self Service End Date

Enter a start and end date for self-service enrollment. The system performs an edit to check that the billing date is equal to or later than the self service end date.

Conditions at Plan Enrollment

Student Group	Enter a value to limit self-service enrollment to a specific group of students.
Limit Plan to Existing Charges	Select to allow the student to link only the eligible charges to the payment plan at the time of payment plan enrollment. Any additional transactions do not affect the payment plan amount. If you do not select this option, the payment plan maximum amount defaults to the contract amount and the system can move any future eligible transactions to the payment plan.
Allow Change in Amount	Select to allow the student to change the contract amount to less than the payment plan maximum amount or less than the existing charges but greater than the minimum amount. If you do not select this option and you have selected the Limit Plan to Existing Charges option, the plan amount is either the maximum amount or the eligible charges.
Allow Change in Installments	Select to allow the student to change the number of installments.
Minimum Amount	Indicate a minimum amount for the payment plan. If you have selected the Limit Plan to Existing Charges option or the Allow Change In Amount option, you must enter an amount greater than zero.

Defining Payment Plan Administrative Fees

Access the Payment Plan Fee page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Payment Plan, Create, Payment Plan Fee).

Type of Assessment

Select the type of assessment. You can leave this field blank if you do not want to assess a fee. When you leave the field blank, all of the other fields on the page become unavailable. If the majority of the students who are associated with this payment plan should be assessed a fee, select one of the following options. When linking each student to the payment plan, you can waive the fee on an individual basis.

Monthly Interest Rate: Select to charge interest that is calculated monthly against the outstanding balance in the plan. When you select this option, you must also set a monthly interest rate.

Note. This option is not available with calculated payment plans.

Payment Plan Fee: Select to assess a fixed amount fee. If you select this option, the Payment Plan Fee, Assessment Fee Split, and the Assessment Item Type fields become available.

Percentage of Payment Plan: Select to assess a fee based on a percentage of the plan's initial balance. If you select this option, the Percentage of Payment Plan, Assessment Fee Split, and the Assessment Item Type fields become available.

Payment Plan Fee

Enter an optional flat-amount payment-plan fee if your institution assesses a flat fee for payment plans. This field is available only if you select Payment Plan Fee in the Type of Assessment field.

Percentage of Payment Plan

Enter the percent amount that you want the system to use when you select Percentage of Payment Plan in the Type of Assessment field.

Monthly Interest Rate

Enter a monthly interest rate that you want to charge when you select Monthly Interest Rate in the Type of Assessment field.

Assessment Fee Split

Select how you want to split the assessment fee. This field is available only if you select Payment Plan Fee or Percentage of Payment Plan in the Type of Assessment field.

Add to first installment: Select to apply the entire assessment fee to the first payment of the contract.

Add to last installment: Select to apply the entire assessment fee to the last payment of the contract.

Split over all installments: Select to divide and apply the assessment fee equally over all payments.

Assessment Item Type

Enter the item type that you want to use for the assessment fee.

Setting Up Third-Party Contracts

To set up third-party contracts, use the Create Third Party Contract component (TP_CONTRACT).

This section discusses how to:

Define basic third-party contract parameters.
Define third-party contract additional details.
Define third-party contract item types.
Define third-party contract transfer parameters.

Pages Used to Set Up Third-Party Contracts

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Third Party Contract	TP_CONTRACT	Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Create, Third Party Contract	Define basic third-party contract parameters.
Third Party Contract Detail	SSF_TP_CONTR_DTL	Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Create, Third Party Contract Detail	Define third-party contract additional details.
Third Party Item Types	TP_CONTRACT_ITEM	Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Create, Third Party Item Types	Define third-party contract item types.
Third Party Charges	TP_CONTRACT_CHRG	Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Create, Third Party Charges	Define third-party contract transfer parameters.

Defining Basic Third-Party Contract Parameters

Access the Third Party Contract page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Create, Third Party Contract).

Note. Audit trail is created in TP_CONTRACT table for any change to the contract setup.

Description	Enter a description for the third-party contract. This field is required.
External Org ID (external organization ID)	Enter the ID for the contract sponsor.
Contract Priority	Enter a contract priority value if a student is linked to more than one third-party contract. This establishes an order for the contracts to apply.
Contact Type	Select the type for the contact person at the organization. You define the contact type at the same time you define the organization ID. This field is informational only.
Contract Max (contract maximum)	Enter a contract maximum amount. This is the maximum monetary amount that the sponsor provides for all sponsored students combined. This amount cannot be adjusted after students are linked to a contract.
Enforce Contract Max	Select this check box to enforce the Contract Maximum. If the check box is cleared, the Contract Max field is unavailable.
Student Max (student maximum)	Enter a student maximum amount. This is the maximum amount that the sponsor provides for any one sponsored student. This amount cannot be adjusted after students are linked to a contract.
Charge Tree	Enter the charge tree (item type tree) that you want to use to define which charges the contract covers.
Last Date	Enter the last date that new charges can be covered or new students can be assigned. Any reductions to covered charges will continue to reduce the third-party credit and the third-party charge on the student and corporate accounts. This date cannot be adjusted after students are linked to a contract.
Service Impact	Enter the service impact that would prevent enrollment into the third-party contract, through individual assignment or batch assignment.
Cross Reference Student Charge	Select this check box to provide additional student information on the View Corporate Account component.

Due Date Tracking

Track Charges by Due Date

This check box is available if the Track Charges By Due Date check box is selected on the SF Business Unit: Posting Setup page. At the Third Party Contract level, Track Charges by Due Date transfers the student's eligible charge Due and Billing Dates to the Corporate Account. The student's Due Date field should be populated before moving the eligible charges to the Corporate Account.

See Defining Posting Parameters.

See Viewing Account Information Within the Maintain Receivables Feature.

Reconcile Org Due Date (reconcile organization due date)

Select this check box if you require the student's due/billing dates to be in synch with the corporate account at all times.

Contract Group

Contract Group

Select the contract group for which aggregate amounts are required for multiple contracts.

Set up contract groups on the Contract Group page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Contract Groups, Contract Group).

Lifetime Group Cap, Lifetime Student Cap, and Enforce Lifetime Group Cap

These values appears by default based on the setup on the Contract Group page.

See: Setting Up Third Party Contract Groups documentation later in this chapter.

Copy Contracts

Click the Copy button to copy an existing third-party contract as the basis of a new third-party contract. You can copy all contract setup information except for term and date information.

Note. Audit trail is captured in TP_CONTRACT table for any changes to third party contract.

Access the Copy Contract page.

Enter the desired information and click Save. You are returned to the Third Party Contract page, where you can modify the new contract information as desired.

Edit Checks Performed by the Copy Process

The Copy process performs these edit checks:

Only Active tree nodes are copied to the new contract.
If overlapping nodes exist in the old contract, an error message appears and the new contract is not created.
Excluded item types are copied but remain excluded in the new contract.
You must select the Cross Reference Student Charge check box on Save.

Defining Third-Party Contract Details

Access the Third Party Contract Detail page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Create, Third Party Contract Detail).

User Defined 1 – 5

Enter any additional details related to the contract. The corporate XML invoice process picks up these additional details.

You can also enter user-defined values while assigning students to a contract on the Student Contract Details page, while rolling over a contract on the Contract Reference Details page, and while reviewing the student assigned to a contract on the Review Results by Contract page.

Ext. Contract (external contract)

Enter the sponsor's contract number. This value can be used as a reference number.

Delivery Code and Requisition Nbr (delivery code and requisition number)

Enter a delivery code, a requisition number, or both if provided by the sponsor.

These values can be used as reference numbers.

From this page, the XML invoice extract can include only the user-defined values. It cannot include external contract, delivery code, and requisition numbers.

Defining Third-Party Contract Item Types

Access the Third Party Item Types page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Create, Third Party Item Types).

Account Type

Enter the account type for third-party contract charges.

Charge Item Type

Enter the item type for third-party contract charges that will appear on the corporate account and invoice.

Discount Item Type

If you want to allow discounts to third-party contract sponsors, enter the item type that you have set up to credit against eligible charges. For example, if you have a local corporation that provides tuition sponsorship for dozens of employees each year, you can offer them a discount.

This item type number is the default value for all discounts that are associated with this contract, but you can override and specify a different item type for each eligible node.

It is recommended not to use discounts with a date range contract.

Credit Account Type

Enter the payment item type that the system uses to credit the eligible charges on the customer account.

Note. For better performance, limit the use of priority payments.

Credit Item Type

Enter the item type that the system uses for credits to the customer.

Contract Type

Select from the following values:

Specific Course: Reserved for future use.

Specific Course List: Select to apply the contract to a specific list of courses. When you select this option, the Term and Course List fields become available.

Note. If you are using term fees and your third-party contract is set up with a course list, then the applicable term fee must have Track Class Pricing enabled.

Specific Term: Select to apply the contract to charges that are assessed to the student within a specific term. When you select this option, the Term field becomes available.

Note. You cannot enter an offset item group if you use this option.

Specific Year or Period: Select to apply the contract to charges that are assessed to the student within a particular academic year or specified period of time. When you select this option, the Academic Year, Start Date, and End Date fields become available.

Date Type

When you have entered Specific Year or Period in the Contract Type field, you must also set the time period to which the third-party contract applies. Values are:

Academic Year: Select to apply the contract to apply to a full academic year. If you select this option, the Academic Year field becomes available.

Course List: This option is not available.

Date Range: If you select this option, the Start Date and End Date fields become available. Enter the start date and end date to specify the date range to which the contract applies. It is recommended not to use discounts with a date range contract.

Term Year: This option is not available.

Term

Enter the academic term to which the contract applies.

Academic Year

Enter the academic year to which the contract applies.

Start Date and End Date

Enter a start date and end date for the period for which the contract applies.

Course List

Enter the course list to which the contract applies. This course list applies to all students who are attached to the contract, but you can override it at the student level if necessary.

Note. When using a course list with a third-party contract, particular setup issues related to term fees exist.

Offset Charge Info

Item Type Group

Enter an item type group that the system uses to offset charges that are covered by the contract. For example, you can apply all financial aid to the student's account before transferring eligible charges to the sponsor.

Note. If your school uses the Payment Priority check box in the setup of these item types, you may not want to define any offset charge item type groups. The preferred method is to use this option.

Term From and Term To

Enter a term range for offsetting charges. You can limit the range to just one term by entering it in both fields.

Setting Up Tuition Groups

Setting Up Term Fee Codes

Defining Third-Party Charge Transfers

Access the Third Party Charges page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Create, Third Party Charges).

For detailed information about how to use this page, see How to Use the Third Party Charges Page later in this section.

Note. Audit trail is captured in TP_CHARGES table for any change to the nodes.

Eligible Nodes — Node Details Tab

Status	Indicates the Node Status. This value is updated through the Process Node Change Request process and cannot be changed manually. Note. Only Active nodes are used to pay eligible charges.
Nbr (number)	This field is automatically populated as you add new charge nodes.
Tree Node	Enter a tree node from the item type tree that includes all charge item types that you want to cover with the third-party contract.
Exclude	This icon appears only for active nodes with excluded item types. Click the icon to see list of excluded item types. See Creating and Processing Third-Party Contract Change Requests.
Max Amount (maximum amount)	Define a maximum amount that you can apply to pay off the charges belonging to the corresponding tree node.
Percentage	Enter the percentage of the eligible charge that the system transfers to the sponsor. This percentage amount is limited by the maximum amount. For example, if the student has eligible tuition charges of 8,000 USD and a sponsor has agreed to pay 50 percent of the charges up to a maximum amount of 3,000 USD, the system transfers only 3,000 USD to the sponsor.
Charge Item Type	Enter the charge item type that the system uses to apply charges to the sponsor's account. If multiple tree nodes are defined, you may enter a unique charge item type for each node.

Eligible Nodes — Discount Tab

Select the Discount tab.

Discount Percentage

If you want to give a discount to the third-party contract sponsor, enter a discount percentage in this field.

Note. Discounts are intended to move a portion of a charge to a sponsor account and a portion of a charge to a discount account. At no time should 100 percent of the charges be moved to the discount account. Waive the fee to facilitate this type of transaction.

Discount Item Type

The value in this field is set by default from the discount item type selection that you made on the Third Party Item Types setup page. You can override this value for each eligible charge.

Eligible Nodes — Taxes Tab

Select the Taxes tab.

Include Tax

Select to transfer all tax charges that are associated with an eligible charge to the sponsor. When you select this check box, the Tax Item Type field becomes available.

Tax Item Type

Enter the item type that applies tax charges to the sponsor's account.

How to Use the Third Party Charges Page

You can change anything in the Eligible Nodes setup if all these conditions are satisfied:

No students are linked to the contract.
No pending Third Party Change requests exist—that is, Open or Submitted/In Progress status.
The node is Active.

If a pending change request exists:

A warning message appears at the top of the Third Party Charges page.
The Eligible Nodes scroll area is read-only—no changes can be made to it.
You cannot add or delete node rows on the contract.

Changing values on the contract setup:

After a student has been linked to the contract you can update only the Max Amount, Percentage, and Discount Percentage.
Max Amount, Percentage, and Discount Percentage can be changed only if the Node is active and no pending Third Party Change requests exist.
You cannot change the tree node and any item type after students are attached to the contract–to do this, create and process a Third Party Change Request.

Adding nodes:

You can add nodes at any time (even after students are assigned), unless there is a pending node change request.
Duplicate nodes are not allowed—you cannot add the same node again if the earlier node is active.
You cannot have overlapping nodes. For example, you have three nodes defined—ALL, which covers all possible item types, TUITION, which includes only item types for tuition, and HOUSING which includes only item types for housing charges. You cannot include TUITION and HOUSING nodes when node ALL is present, because the item types are overlapping.

Deleting nodes:

You can delete a node only if no students have been assigned to the contract.
To stop using a node, use the Third Party Change Request to make the node Inactive.

Audit trail is created on any change to the contract. Details are stored in the TP_CONTRACT and TP_CHARGES tables.

Note. It is better to plan the tree more efficiently than to exclude item types. For example, do not include a node in the Third Party setup that contains 10 item types, and excludes 9 of them.

See Creating and Processing Third-Party Contract Change Requests.

Setting Up Third Party Contract Groups

To set up third-party contract groups, use the Contract Group component (SSF_TPC_GROUP).

This section provides an understanding of third-party contract groups and discusses how to:

Define third-party contract groups.
Define student lifetime cap overrides.

Understanding Third-Party Contract Groups

Many sponsors provide funds for students that cover many terms. The sponsor designates a maximum overall total and a student maximum cap. Using term contract functionality, the funds can be limited by term. Contract Groups functionality allows the aggregate of all contracts and student charges to be capped. In addition, the contract rollover feature provides greater ease for the administrative user when copying contracts and assigning students to each contract. The Third Party Contract Group is an attribute on the Third Party Contract component. Contracts that have the Contract Group attribute defined and are rolled over from one term to another carry the Contract Group attribute. Therefore, the new term contract is automatically part of the group. When Third Party Calc runs, it checks the total charges of the student for the group of contracts, as well as the total charges already posted to the group, and compares that with the group maximum and student group maximum. For better performance, use contract groups only when necessary and do not allow them to exist indefinitely.

Pages Used to Set Up Third-Party Contract Groups

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Third Party Group	SSF_TPC_GROUP	Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Contract Groups, Contract Group, Third Party Group	Define parameters to group contracts to allow for an overall contract cap amount and student cap amount.
Student Lifetime Cap Override	SSF_TPC_GRP_STDMAX	Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Contract Groups, Contract Group, Student Lifetime Cap Override	Define an override for specific students.

Defining Third-Party Contract Groups

Access the Third Party Group page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Contract Groups, Contract Group, Third Party Group).

Third Party Contract Group

An attribute to identify the contracts to aggregate.

Lifetime Group Cap

Define the maximum amount that cannot be exceeded by all linked contracts. The Lifetime Group Cap represents the time period defined on the individual contracts that are linked to the group contract.

Lifetime Student Cap

Define the maximum amount at the student level that cannot be exceeded by all linked contracts. The Lifetime Student Cap represents the time period defined on the individual contracts that are linked to the group contract.

Enforce Lifetime Group Cap

Select this check box if the Lifetime Group Cap amount should be enforced. If cleared, the default is $0.00 and the student's eligible charges are not summed and compared to the Lifetime Group Cap amount. This will provide for better performance.

Defining Student Lifetime Cap Overrides

Access the Student Lifetime Cap Override page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Contract Groups, Contract Group, Student Lifetime Cap Override).

There may be times when specific students within a contract group may have a lesser Lifetime Student Cap. The Student Lifetime Cap Override allows the administrator to identify the EmplID and the Lifetime Student Cap override amount.

The Student Lifetime Cap Override can be added before the student has any eligible charges. If this change is made after student had been assigned to a contract, Recalc Third Party Contracts process (SFPTPPRC.CBL) must be run.

ID	Enter the Contract EmplID of the student to whom the Lifetime Cap Override applies.
Lifetime Student Cap	Enter an amount that is less than the Lifetime Student Cap as defined on the Third Party Group page. The student's charges, associated to this contract group, cannot exceed this amount.

Creating and Processing Third-Party Contract Change Requests

To create and process third-party contract change requests, use the Contract Node Change Request component (SSF_TP_NODE_REQ) and the Process Node Change Request component (SSF_RUNCTL_TPCREQ).

This section discusses how to:

Create third-party contract change requests.
Process third-party contract change requests.

Pages Used to Create and Process Third-Party Contract Change Requests

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Third Party Change Request	SSF_TP_NODE_REQ	Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Contract Node Change Request, Third Party Change Request	Create a change request to modify tree node details of a third-party contract.
Process Node Change Request	SSF_RUNCTL_TPCREQ	Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Process Node Change Request, Process Node Change Request	Finalize tree node changes to the third-party contract.

Creating Third-Party Contract Change Requests

Access the Third Party Change Request page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Contract Node Change Request, Third Party Change Request).

Contract Number

This field is populated when a request is created. Only active third party contracts are available for processing.

Status

Select a status:

Open: Indicates that a request has been created and is waiting to be processed. Only one request per contract can have a change status of Open at the same time. An open request can be modified and submitted for processing. A status of Open is selected by default.

Canceled: The administrator has canceled the request. An administrator can change an Open request to Canceled.

Completed: This status is set after the Process Node Change Request has completed successfully.

Submitted: This status is set once the Process Node Change Request has been submitted for processing.

Error: This status is set if errors occur during the Process Node Change Request processing.

Process Info

Click this link to view additional details for requests with a status of Completed or Error.

Tree Node

All active tree nodes in the associated tree are displayed.

Inactivate Node

Select this check box to inactivate the entire node. All associated item types are excluded. For example, if housing charges are not to be paid by the third party, inactive the HOUSING node.

You can inactivate a node at any time, unless it is the only active node.

If the Inactivate Node check box is selected, the Exclude Item Types scroll is hidden.

Item Type

Enter the item type that you want to exclude. For example, if a third party does not want to pay the Internship Tuition, exclude the item type 100000000016 from the TUITION node. In this case, charges for the specific item type will not be paid by third party.

Note. The change request is stored in a staging table. After you make a request, you must run the Process Node Change Request (SFPTPREQ.CBL) process.

See: Processing Third-Party Contract Change Requests

Processing Third-Party Contract Change Requests

Access the Process Node Change Request page (Student Financials, Payment Plans, Third Party Contract, Process Node Change Request, Process Node Change Request).

Contract Number

Select a contract number for which you want to process a change request. Only contracts with an Open change request status are available.

Process Logic

The Process Node Change Request process is used to finalize node changes to a third party contract. This process must be used in combination with the Third Party Change Request page, which you use to request the node changes to a third party contract. You can inactivate an entire node or exclude specific item types from a node. These exclusions will be used to identify which charges should not be paid by the third party.

See Creating and Processing Third-Party Contract Change Requests.

The is how the Process Node Change Request process works:

The process selects a request from the staging table in which the Third Party Change Requests are stored.
The Status field on the Request page is set to Submitted.
If the Inactivate Node check box is selected on the Request page, the Node status is set to Inactive.
For Active nodes, Excluded item types are inserted in to the Exclusion table (SSF_TPC_CHGEXCL).
The Audit trail for each exclusion is created in the exclusion table.
The Recalc Third Party Contracts process (SFPTPPRC.CBL) is invoked to recalculate based on the node changes.

See Recalculating Third-Party Contracts.
If the process completes successfully, the Request page Status is set to Completed. If errors occurred, the Request page Status is set to Error.
You can review the details on the Third Party Change Request page.

Setting Up Collection Agreements

To set up collection agreements, use the Collection Agreement component (COLL_AGREEMENT).

Note. Audit trail is captured in TP_CONTRACT for any changes to the collection agreement.

This section discusses how to:

Define basic collection agreement parameters.
Define collection agreement administrative fees.

Note. You can set up a collection agreement only for a customer whose account includes items in the collection process.

See Also

Collecting Receivables

Pages Used to Set Up Collection Agreements

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Collection Agreement	COLL_AGREEMENT	Student Financials, Collections, Collection Agreement	Define basic collection agreement parameters.
Collection Agreement Assess	TP_CONTRACT_ASSESS	Student Financials, Collections, Collection Agreement, Collection Agreement Assess	Define collection agreement administrative fees.
Payment Distribution	TP_PPLN_QCK_POST	Student Financials, Collections, Collection Agreement, Payment Distribution	Confirm collection agreement payment schedules.

Defining Basic Collection Agreement Parameters

Access the Collection Agreement page (Student Financials, Collections, Collection Agreement).

First Bill Date

Select the date that you generate the first bill for the collection agreement. The system uses the first bill date and the billing cycle to set the billing dates for the duration of the collection agreement.

Note. The billing program does not acknowledge the collection agreement until on or after the first bill date specified. For example, if your first bill date is set for November 16 and you run your billing process on the 15^th, the system does not process the collection agreement billing until the next run.

Payments

Enter the number of payments that students must make to pay off the collection agreement.

Pay Plan Type

Use this field to define how the system credits payments that are made to this collection agreement. Values are:

Credit the Original Account: Select to credit all eligible charges and create a new collection agreement charge.

Create Billing Entries: Do not use this option with this type of plan.

Amount

Displays the amount of past due debt to be covered by the collection agreement after you select the check box next to a line item in the bottom scroll area of the page.

Account Type

Enter the account type that is defined for the agreement.

Reference Number

Enter an optional reference number for each student on a particular contract. The reference number entry is for information only.

Due after Days

Enter the number of days after the bill date that the payment is due.

Adjustment Option

Select an adjustment option. Values are:

Adjust Equally: Select to apply adjustments that are made to the collection agreement equally across all remaining payments.

Adjust First Bill: Select to apply adjustments that are made to the collection agreement to the plan's next bill.

Adjust Last Bill: Select to apply adjustments that are made to the collection agreement to the plan's final bill.

Do not Adjust: Select to prevent any adjustment from being made to the collection agreement.

Item Type

Enter the item type that creates the charge the student is paying off.

Pay Item Type

Enter the pay item type to use to pay off the past due charges that are covered by the collection agreement.

Calculating and Posting the Collection Agreement

Before calculating and posting the collection agreement, you should complete the Collection Agreement Contract Assessment page. After completing this page, return to the collection agreement page to calculate and post the collection agreement.

Calculate	Click to calculate the amount of the collections agreement charges.
Post	Click to post the collection agreement charges. After the agreement is posted, the word Paid appears to the left of all items that are included in the agreement.
Rev (reverse)	After you post the collection agreement, this check box becomes available. Select it and repost the collection agreement to reverse the agreement and return the student's account to the original state.
Display Error/Warning	Click to view error messages, warning messages, or both.

Defining Collection Agreement Administrative Fees

Access the Collection Agreement Assess page (Student Financials, Collections, Collection Agreement, Collection Agreement Assess).

Type of Assessment

Select the type of assessment. You can leave this field blank if you do not want to assess a fee. When you leave the field blank, all of the other fields on the page become unavailable. If you want to assess a fee, select one of the following options:

Monthly Interest Rate: Select to charge interest that is calculated monthly against the outstanding balance in the plan. When you select this option, you must also set a monthly interest rate.

Payment Plan Fee: Select to assess a fixed amount fee. If you select this option, the Payment Plan Fee, Assessment Fee Split, and Assessment Item Type fields become available.

Percentage of Payment Plan: Select to assess a fee based on a percentage of the plan's initial balance. If you select this option, the Percentage of Payment Plan, Assessment Fee Split, and Assessment Item Type fields become available.

Payment Plan Fee

Enter the payment plan fee dollar amount. You can enter this amount as a flat amount only, not as a percentage or interest rate.

Assessment Fee Split

Determine the assessment fee split. Values are:

Add to first payment: Select to apply the entire assessment fee to the first payment of the contract.

Add to last payment: Select to apply the entire assessment fee to the last payment of the contract.

Split over all payments: Select to divide and apply the assessment fee equally over all payments.

Percentage of Payment Plan

Enter the percentage of payment plan amount that you want the system to use when you select Percentage of Payment Plan in the Type of Assessment field.

Monthly Interest Rate

Enter a monthly interest rate to charge when you select Monthly Interest Rate in the Type of Assessment field.

Assessment Item Type

Select the item type that you want to use for the assessment fee.

Term	Select the term to which the contract applies.
Tree Name	Select the item type tree name that includes the charge item types that you cover under this plan.
Student Max (student maximum)	Enter the maximum amount that you want to allow any one student to defer under the contract. Be sure to set this amount high enough to meet your needs. The system does not defer eligible charges that cause the deferred amount to exceed the student maximum. For example, if the student maximum is 10,000 USD and the system already deferred 8,500 USD, it rejects a new eligible charge of 2,000 USD because the total exceeds the defined maximum.
From Date and To Date	Set the date range for the deferral contract. The system defers eligible charges only when the item effective date is within this date range.
Due Date/Days and Bill Date/Days	Set the time unit to use to calculate the payment's due date and bill date. Options are: Due Date: If you select this option, the Defer Date field becomes available. Due Days: If you select this option, the Defer Days field becomes available.
Defer Days	If you select Due Days in the Due Date/Days and Bill Date/Days fields, enter the number of days from the transaction's effective date that the system defers the due date and bill date.
Defer Date	If you select Due Date in the Due Date/Days field, set the date that the payment is due and the date that you want it billed regardless of the charge effective date.

Assessment Fee	Enter the amount of the administrative fee that you want to charge for this contract.
Account Type	Enter the account type designated for payment plans.
Assess Item Type	Enter the item type of the assessment fee.

Description	Enter a description. This will also appear in Self Service Enroll in a Payment Plan.
Pay Plan Type	Define how the system credits payments made to this plan. Values are: Credit the Original Account: Select to credit all eligible charges and create a new payment plan charge. Create Billing Entries: This option should not be used with any of the three payment plans.
Status	Specify whether the payment plan contract is active or inactive. You can change the status of a contract to Inactive regardless of the status of any students that are associated with it. Note. You should change the contract status to Inactive on any calculated payment plans for previous terms. This enhances performance because of the way the system automatically recalculates active contracts. An active contract is one for which both the contract and student status have a value of Active, and the last date of the contract is greater than the current system date. When the system recalculates contracts for a student, it evaluates all active contracts for that student. You do not need to set the student status to Inactive to receive this performance benefit as long as you have set the appropriate contract status to Inactive.
Total Budget Amt (total budget amount)	This should be defined in conjunction with all eligible charges. Enter the maximum amount of installment payments that a student can make through the payment plan account. Carefully consider all eligible charges when you establish this figure to make sure that it is high enough to cover all the intended costs. For lump sum plans, the total budget amount becomes the default lump sum amount. You can adjust this amount for each student who is linked to the plan.
First Bill Date	Set the date on which you generate the first bill for the payment plan. The system uses the first bill date and the billing cycle to set the billing dates for the duration of the payment plan. You can override this setting for each student who is linked to the plan. Note. The billing program does not acknowledge the payment plan until on or after the first bill date specified. For example, if your first bill date is set for November 16 and you run your billing process on the 15^th, the system does not process Payment Plan billing until the next run.
Payment Due Days	Enter the number of days after the bill date that the payment is due.
Number of Payments	Enter the number of payments (installments) that students must make to pay off the plan. The system uses the information in this field as the default value. You can override the number of payments for each student who is linked to the plan.
Term	This field is required for calculated payment plans. Enter the term that the system posts on the payment plan credit and the installments. This field is optional for existing and lump-sum payment plans. Note. When a payment plan covers charges in more then one term, you must clear the Account Per Term check box on the Accounts Types page for the payment plan account type.
Last Date	Enter the last date that charges can be added or adjusted and still be picked up by the plan.
Service Impact	Enter the service impact that would prevent enrollment into the payment plan. This prevents enrollment into the payment plan through Batch Assignment, Assign Page, and Self Service.
Plan Type	Select the value of the HR plan type that applies to the payroll deduction code.
Payroll Deduction	Enter the code of the payroll deduction that applies to the payment plan account. Note. Assigning a payroll deduction code to a payment plan is necessary only if you plan to restrict payroll deductions to apply to payment plan accounts.

Plan Type	Select the plan type from the following values: Calculated: Select to determine which charges to include based on the rules that you define on this page. If you use this option, each time that you calculate or recalculate the payment plan, the system picks up all eligible charges and adds them to the plan balance. You can also use the Calculate Real Time option to have the contract recalculated each time an eligible change occurs in the student's account. This is available for Self Service Enroll in a Payment Plan. Existing: Select to manually choose which charges to include in each student's payment plan at the time you add the student to the plan. Note. When you choose Existing, the rest of the fields (with the exception of Calculate Real Time) become unavailable. Lump Sum: Select to create a payment plan for a fixed amount. This is the most basic type of plan and is useful for students who do not expect any changes to occur in their accounts and know how much they need to finance. This is available for Self Service Enroll in a Payment Plan. Note. When you select the Lump Sum option, the Lump Sum Amount field becomes available and all other fields on the page become unavailable.
Maximum Amount	The maximum amount is set by default from the total budget amount and can be overridden, if needed. This field is available with calculated payment plans only.
Lump Sum Amount	Enter the lump sum amount that you want the contract to cover. The default value for this field is the total budget amount that is established on the Payment Plan 1 page. You can override this value, but you cannot exceed the total budget amount limit. This field is available with lump sum payment plans only.
Item Type Group	Select the item type group that includes all of the charges to be included in the payment plan. This field is available with calculated payment plans only.
Offset Item Type Group	Select the offset item type group that includes payments, financial aid, or both that the system uses to offset charges and thereby reduce the amount of the payment plan. This field is available with calculated payment plans only.

Adjustment Option	Enter how the system distributes changes to payment plan installments. See Increasing Payment Plan Contract Installments and Decreasing Payment Plan Contract Installments below for detailed information about this field and its values.
Extra Payments Option	Specify how the system applies payments that exceed the amount billed. Values are: All Bills: Select to reduce the amount due in equal portions across all remaining bills. First Bill: Select to reduce the amount of the next bill by the amount of the excess payment. If the excess is greater than the amount of the next bill, the system applies it to remaining bills in the order due. Last Bill: Select to apply the excess amounts to the final bill of the contract.
Account Type	Enter the account type that you have defined for the plan.
Charge Item Type	Enter the charge item type. This creates the installment charges on the payment plan account. Note. If this field is not available, change the payment plan type on the Payment Plan 1 page to Credit Original Account.
Billing Item Type	This field is not available for use with this type of payment plan. If the field is available, change the payment plan type on the Payment Plan 1 page to Credit Original Account.
Payment Item Type	Enter the payment item type to use to credit the tuition and fees covered by the payment plan. Note. If this field is not available, change the payment plan type on the Payment Plan 1 page to Credit Original Account.

Type of Assessment	Select the type of assessment. You can leave this field blank if you do not want to assess a fee. When you leave the field blank, all of the other fields on the page become unavailable. If the majority of the students who are associated with this payment plan should be assessed a fee, select one of the following options. When linking each student to the payment plan, you can waive the fee on an individual basis. Monthly Interest Rate: Select to charge interest that is calculated monthly against the outstanding balance in the plan. When you select this option, you must also set a monthly interest rate. Note. This option is not available with calculated payment plans. Payment Plan Fee: Select to assess a fixed amount fee. If you select this option, the Payment Plan Fee, Assessment Fee Split, and the Assessment Item Type fields become available. Percentage of Payment Plan: Select to assess a fee based on a percentage of the plan's initial balance. If you select this option, the Percentage of Payment Plan, Assessment Fee Split, and the Assessment Item Type fields become available.
Payment Plan Fee	Enter an optional flat-amount payment-plan fee if your institution assesses a flat fee for payment plans. This field is available only if you select Payment Plan Fee in the Type of Assessment field.
Percentage of Payment Plan	Enter the percent amount that you want the system to use when you select Percentage of Payment Plan in the Type of Assessment field.
Monthly Interest Rate	Enter a monthly interest rate that you want to charge when you select Monthly Interest Rate in the Type of Assessment field.
Assessment Fee Split	Select how you want to split the assessment fee. This field is available only if you select Payment Plan Fee or Percentage of Payment Plan in the Type of Assessment field. Add to first installment: Select to apply the entire assessment fee to the first payment of the contract. Add to last installment: Select to apply the entire assessment fee to the last payment of the contract. Split over all installments: Select to divide and apply the assessment fee equally over all payments.
Assessment Item Type	Enter the item type that you want to use for the assessment fee.

Account Type	Enter the account type for third-party contract charges.
Charge Item Type	Enter the item type for third-party contract charges that will appear on the corporate account and invoice.
Discount Item Type	If you want to allow discounts to third-party contract sponsors, enter the item type that you have set up to credit against eligible charges. For example, if you have a local corporation that provides tuition sponsorship for dozens of employees each year, you can offer them a discount. This item type number is the default value for all discounts that are associated with this contract, but you can override and specify a different item type for each eligible node. It is recommended not to use discounts with a date range contract.
Credit Account Type	Enter the payment item type that the system uses to credit the eligible charges on the customer account. Note. For better performance, limit the use of priority payments.
Credit Item Type	Enter the item type that the system uses for credits to the customer.
Contract Type	Select from the following values: Specific Course: Reserved for future use. Specific Course List: Select to apply the contract to a specific list of courses. When you select this option, the Term and Course List fields become available. Note. If you are using term fees and your third-party contract is set up with a course list, then the applicable term fee must have Track Class Pricing enabled. Specific Term: Select to apply the contract to charges that are assessed to the student within a specific term. When you select this option, the Term field becomes available. Note. You cannot enter an offset item group if you use this option. Specific Year or Period: Select to apply the contract to charges that are assessed to the student within a particular academic year or specified period of time. When you select this option, the Academic Year, Start Date, and End Date fields become available.
Date Type	When you have entered Specific Year or Period in the Contract Type field, you must also set the time period to which the third-party contract applies. Values are: Academic Year: Select to apply the contract to apply to a full academic year. If you select this option, the Academic Year field becomes available. Course List: This option is not available. Date Range: If you select this option, the Start Date and End Date fields become available. Enter the start date and end date to specify the date range to which the contract applies. It is recommended not to use discounts with a date range contract. Term Year: This option is not available.
Term	Enter the academic term to which the contract applies.
Academic Year	Enter the academic year to which the contract applies.
Start Date and End Date	Enter a start date and end date for the period for which the contract applies.
Course List	Enter the course list to which the contract applies. This course list applies to all students who are attached to the contract, but you can override it at the student level if necessary. Note. When using a course list with a third-party contract, particular setup issues related to term fees exist.

Include Tax	Select to transfer all tax charges that are associated with an eligible charge to the sponsor. When you select this check box, the Tax Item Type field becomes available.
Tax Item Type	Enter the item type that applies tax charges to the sponsor's account.

Third Party Contract Group	An attribute to identify the contracts to aggregate.
Lifetime Group Cap	Define the maximum amount that cannot be exceeded by all linked contracts. The Lifetime Group Cap represents the time period defined on the individual contracts that are linked to the group contract.
Lifetime Student Cap	Define the maximum amount at the student level that cannot be exceeded by all linked contracts. The Lifetime Student Cap represents the time period defined on the individual contracts that are linked to the group contract.
Enforce Lifetime Group Cap	Select this check box if the Lifetime Group Cap amount should be enforced. If cleared, the default is $0.00 and the student's eligible charges are not summed and compared to the Lifetime Group Cap amount. This will provide for better performance.

Contract Number	This field is populated when a request is created. Only active third party contracts are available for processing.
Status	Select a status: Open: Indicates that a request has been created and is waiting to be processed. Only one request per contract can have a change status of Open at the same time. An open request can be modified and submitted for processing. A status of Open is selected by default. Canceled: The administrator has canceled the request. An administrator can change an Open request to Canceled. Completed: This status is set after the Process Node Change Request has completed successfully. Submitted: This status is set once the Process Node Change Request has been submitted for processing. Error: This status is set if errors occur during the Process Node Change Request processing.
Process Info	Click this link to view additional details for requests with a status of Completed or Error.
Tree Node	All active tree nodes in the associated tree are displayed.
Inactivate Node	Select this check box to inactivate the entire node. All associated item types are excluded. For example, if housing charges are not to be paid by the third party, inactive the HOUSING node. You can inactivate a node at any time, unless it is the only active node. If the Inactivate Node check box is selected, the Exclude Item Types scroll is hidden.
Item Type	Enter the item type that you want to exclude. For example, if a third party does not want to pay the Internship Tuition, exclude the item type 100000000016 from the TUITION node. In this case, charges for the specific item type will not be paid by third party.

First Bill Date	Select the date that you generate the first bill for the collection agreement. The system uses the first bill date and the billing cycle to set the billing dates for the duration of the collection agreement. Note. The billing program does not acknowledge the collection agreement until on or after the first bill date specified. For example, if your first bill date is set for November 16 and you run your billing process on the 15^th, the system does not process the collection agreement billing until the next run.
Payments	Enter the number of payments that students must make to pay off the collection agreement.
Pay Plan Type	Use this field to define how the system credits payments that are made to this collection agreement. Values are: Credit the Original Account: Select to credit all eligible charges and create a new collection agreement charge. Create Billing Entries: Do not use this option with this type of plan.
Amount	Displays the amount of past due debt to be covered by the collection agreement after you select the check box next to a line item in the bottom scroll area of the page.
Account Type	Enter the account type that is defined for the agreement.
Reference Number	Enter an optional reference number for each student on a particular contract. The reference number entry is for information only.
Due after Days	Enter the number of days after the bill date that the payment is due.
Adjustment Option	Select an adjustment option. Values are: Adjust Equally: Select to apply adjustments that are made to the collection agreement equally across all remaining payments. Adjust First Bill: Select to apply adjustments that are made to the collection agreement to the plan's next bill. Adjust Last Bill: Select to apply adjustments that are made to the collection agreement to the plan's final bill. Do not Adjust: Select to prevent any adjustment from being made to the collection agreement.
Item Type	Enter the item type that creates the charge the student is paying off.
Pay Item Type	Enter the pay item type to use to pay off the past due charges that are covered by the collection agreement.