Payments
The Payments Section allows you to configure online payments for students and set up merchants for credit card processing. You can configure ampEducator to process credit card payments through a selected online merchant, with different options for how students can make payments and how those payments are applied.
The Online Payments section allows you to configure how students can make payments through the student portal. Below are the key fields you can customize:
- Payment Currency: Choose the currency for online transactions, such as Canadian Dollar, US Dollar, Euro, or British Pound.
- Student Restriction: Define what students are required to pay, such as invoices, charges, payment plan items, or the full balance.
- Auto Apply to Plan: Enable to automatically apply payments to the student's payment plan.
- Update Credit Cards: Enable to allow students to update their credit card information.
- Delete Credit Cards: Enable to allow students to delete their credit card information.
- Payment Notifications To: Choose staff members to receive email notifications when a payment is processed, including a copy of the purchase receipt.
- Purchase Notifications To: Choose staff members to receive email notifications for successful purchases, including a copy of the invoice.
The Merchants Section allows you to set up and manage the merchant providers that will process online payments for your institution. In order to process credit card payments through the student portal, a merchant account must be configured.
The available merchant providers currently include:
- Authorize.net
- Banquest
- Clover
- Convera
- Elavon Converge
- Flywire
- iATS
- Moneris
- NMI
- Payeezy
- PayPal Payments Pro
- PayPal Standard
- PayPal Website Payments Pro
- Paysafe
- Square
- Stripe
If you're using a different merchant, please reach out to [email protected] to see if we can provide integration with your merchant account.
To add a new merchant, click New Merchant and fill out the following fields:
- Merchant Name – Enter the name of the merchant (e.g., Moneris).
- Description – Provide a description for the merchant (e.g., Moneris Payment Processor).
- Locations – Select the locations that will use this merchant for processing payments.
- Merchant – Choose the merchant account from the list of available providers. Please note, depending on which merchant you choose, the fields that follow will change to reflect the specific information required by that provider. For example, Authorize.net may require an API Login ID and Transaction Key, while PayPal Payments Pro may ask for different credentials.
- Sandbox / Testing – Select Yes if you want to use sandbox testing mode for processing transactions before going live. This allows you to test the payment process in a safe environment without real money being involved.
- Payment Account – This is the account you wish to associate with all payments made via the merchant. It is recommended to create a new payment method, such as "Online Payments," for easier reference and to help maintain organized payment records within ampEducator.
- Description – Provide a description for the payment account.
When Apply Surcharge is enabled, additional fields will appear:
- Surcharge Applied By – Choose whether the surcharge will be applied by ampEducator or the Merchant.
- Surcharge Percentage – Enter the percentage of the total payment to be charged as a surcharge
- Surcharge Account – Select a revenue account for the surcharge from the list of available revenue accounts.
- Surcharge Description* – Provide a description of the surcharge (e.g., Processing Fee).
- Surcharge Disclosure – Add any necessary legal or informational disclosure regarding the surcharge.
- Apply Surcharge To – Choose where the surcharge will be applied. You can select multiple options depending on where you'd like the surcharge to appear.
Once all fields are completed, press Add, and your new merchant will appear in the list. You will then be able to process online payments across the system.
The Apply Surcharge feature allows you to apply an additional charge to payments made via the merchant. It's important to understand the two options for how the surcharge can be applied: ampEducator or the Merchant.
- Surcharge Applied By: ampEducator When you select this option, ampEducator will calculate and apply the surcharge based on the Surcharge Percentage entered. The surcharge will be added as a separate charge on the student’s account, but not on the invoice (if you are using invoices). This prevents the prospect or student from being charged twice for the surcharge if the merchant also applies it. The surcharge amount will then be passed to the merchant for processing, and the amounts will be recorded as separate transactions on the student’s account.
- Surcharge Applied By: Merchant If your selected merchant supports applying the surcharge, then you can choose this option. When the merchant applies the surcharge, ampEducator will disable the surcharge disclaimer and amount. The surcharge amount will only be added if the merchant applies it. In this case, the merchant is responsible for calculating and charging the surcharge.