Child Care Billing Software

Automatic payments are a fraction of what it costs to process credit or debit cards, and are significantly less than the cost of check collections. Other benefits include: reduction of administration and operating expenses, elimination of time lost delivering the bank deposit, reduction in clerical expense associated with reconciliation, accelerated availability of funds, better cash management forecasting, improved business relationships, certainty of delivery, and possible reduction of bank service charges

The ACH system that handles all electronic funds transfers (EFT) has been in existence since 1970 and is highly secure. In 2019, there were 24.7 billion payments on the ACH Network, with a value of $55.8 trillion. Procare addresses your security concerns with additional security measures, utilizing 128 bit encryption software.

Absolutely! Once your application is approved, Procare will send you a Getting Started package with all the marketing material you’ll need. We’ll send the Tuition Express software module, brochures, FAQ sheets, and application forms to hand out to your sponsors.

The Tuition Express fee structure is one of the lowest in the industry. Our philosophy is to deliver the best possible EFT products and services at an affordable rate. Please contact our Tuition Express team for a rundown of fees.

Once you’ve sent your EFT request, you should see a credit to your account in about 48 hours (depending on your bank). Not only is this faster than walking into your bank to make a deposit, but there are other benefits as well. You’ll be notified of any NSFs much faster than the week or two it takes to receive notification from your bank.

Tuition Express will electronically transfer the funds to your account using the same ACH system it does to deduct payments from the accounts of your families. Tuition Express will collect its per item fees each time your account is credited for tuition. All monthly fees will be debited from your account on the first business day of each month.

When you send an EFT file to Tuition Express, we will email a confirmation receipt. While Tuition Express is processing the credit to your account, you’ll receive an email reflecting the amount to be deposited. For NSF transactions, Tuition Express will send an e-mail, detailing the family and the amount.

Complete and sign the application, attach application fee and VOIDED CHECK. Fax or mail it back to us. Once your application is approved, we’ll set up your account and send you all the materials needed to sign up your sponsors for Tuition Express. After that, all you have to do is have the sponsors sign the “Automatic Payment Authorization” and add them to Procare’s Tuition Express module.

First consider if this is really appropriate. It’s much easier to allow Tuition Express to process all payments rather than trying to collect for a few things manually by check or cash. If you decide to pursue dual payment collection, there are several options.

Option 1: Wait to charge items that you do not want collected by Tuition Express until after you’ve processed the normal Tuition Express payments for the week. At this point, each family will presumably have a balance of zero. Now post the fees you wish to collect by check or cash. As the payments come in manually post them to the family ledger cards.

Note: If some families do not pay on time and still owe this “extra” money the next time you process Tuition Express, you may:

• Let Tuition Express collect the full balance due (up to each family’s maximum)
• Or manually adjust the amount down (in Step 2) for those families.

Option 2: Use the Sponsor Ledger for normal fees you want processed through Tuition Express and post other fees to the CoSponsor Ledger. The family will then have two balances. When check and cash come in for the “other” fees be sure to manually post them to the CoSponsor Ledger. The disadvantage to this approach is that those families will need to have two statements printed, one each for the Sponsor and CoSponsor Ledgers. Also this option will not work if you are already using the CoSponsor ledger (for example in a divorced family situation).

Option 3: Create a Third Party Agency ledger to hold charges you do not want processed through Tuition Express. You could name the agency something like “Other Charges.” This is similar to option 2, but has the added disadvantage that in order to print a separate “Agency” statement for each family, you’d have to print them one at a time.

Tuition Express Online Payment Processing Timelines

Tuition Express Online Payment Processing Timeline

• Day 0: Any online payments scheduled for that day will be processed and available for posting into Procare by 4 p.m. PT.
• Day 1: Parents’ bank or credit card accounts debited. 
• Day 2: Center’s remaining due transactions (ACH and credit card)  deposited into center’s account.
• Days 3 & 4: Center notified by email of ACH non-sufficient funds items (NSF) and Notifications of Change (NOC). Center must correct parent ledgers for each NSF.

Tuition Express Batch Processing Timeline

• Day 0: Center runs Tuition Express by 1 p.m. PT for same-day processing*, receives batch confirmation via email. Center receives notification of failed credit card transactions and corrects parent ledger cards accordingly.
• Day 1: Parents’ bank or credit card accounts debited.
• Day 2: Center’s remaining due transactions (ACH and credit card) deposited into center’s account.
• Days 3 & 4: Center notified by email of ACH non-sufficient funds items (NSF) and Notifications of Change (NOC). Center must correct parent ledgers for each NSF.

*Batch processing may be scheduled up to 14 days in advance
Federal Bank Holidays may affect processing timelines.
Merchant is responsible for verifying funding of bank accounts.

Nothing. Although it is always a good idea to make daily backups, your data will not be affected.

Absolutely! Complete, easy-to-understand instructions are included with your Update.

You can order an update by filling out this form:

Procare Update Form

No. The complete update, regardless of the number of modules you use, includes every enhancement added to the system since your last purchased update.

If you have multiple locations, every school on your network that retains historical data for auditing or reporting requires an update. If you wish to discontinue using a particular location, see Removing Data & Software Modules for how to proceed.

Updating once a year allows you to continue to receive toll-free support. Each update also includes a free, one year subscription to the Online Update Service which gives you immediate access to the latest updates throughout the year, as they become available (requires an internet connection).

No. Procare provides high quality, toll-free support for software that has been updated annually. Your success is important to us and we are committed to ensuring that you receive the maximum benefit from your software investment. However, in order to continue providing excellent support in a timely manner, we cannot support older versions. Far too many calls to our support department involve issues in early versions that have been addressed in recent updates.

No. Updating your system is recommended and to your benefit, but not required.

The two reasons most people choose to maintain their update subscription are:

1. For the latest features and enhancements included in each Online Update. New features are developed to assist you in running your business more efficiently. Other enhancements may include improvements to the overall operation of your system. Though some enhancements may not be obvious, your system may respond faster or work more smoothly. See: Release Notes for recent Versions of Procare.
2. To take advantage of free and unlimited access to technical support. Our support staff will help guide you to answers to specific questions and troubleshoot any issues that may arise.

Throughout the year, Procare is regularly updated to keep pace with technological advances in software development as well as the evolving needs of the childcare industry. Procare Updates include:

• Exciting new features to improve daily childcare management
• Overall system enhancements to optimize performance and speed
• Technological enhancements to ensure Procare’s compatibility with newer computers and operating systems
• Free, one year subscription to the Online Update Service allowing you to download the latest version of Procare at any time.