We do this override by setting the deposit to zero so the parent can submit without paying. Then the zero payment shoes up in Reconcile Fees with a status of "waiver" so the Business Offices knows to make sure they get /got the check. A comment is put in the Comments section of the Edit Contract window.

Hi Lily, 

Schools can manually go to the Candidate's Contract tab and edit the contract. 

In terms of the pay by check option, currently when a contract has been submitted the school knows the form is complete. The hope was to streamline the process for schools. Adding an option for the family to pay later, adds another step which schools would need to track separately. Once we have an integration with a student billing solution, this could potentially be an option. 

How do schools manually override the deposit requirement? As far as we can
see, the contract can't be submitted unless a deposit payment is included.
It really would just be simpler to include a "pay by check" checkbox like
all the other payment gateway areas allow and shouldn't be that complicated
of a programming issue.

Hi Bob, 

For onBoard, we're mostly focused on the initial deposit, not the tuition payments. With the deposit, schools can manually override, so families can submit a lower deposit or bring payment to the school off-line. Our payment gateways do allow for EFT transactions for online check option as well. For tuition payments, we're working with our student billing options in Smart Tuition and expect to have more flexibility in how families can pay. 

Hopefully, this helps with some of your concerns. 

Cheers,

Brenda Noiseux

Sr. Product Manager, onBoard

Not only do parents pay by check, but they pay via a family trust fund, a relative (Grandparent, aunt, uncle) pays for it, or they will bank wire the money.

It is absolutely mind-boggling that the developers of onBoard did not think of all the ways in which a family would pay for tuition.

Rather than adding more options, I would just prefer to make the deposit entirely optional and not required.  Our financial aid families sometimes need time to drum up the money to pay the deposit and forcing them to choose a payment method might be unfair.