Business · Free tool
School Fee Budget Planner
The school fee budget planner helps school owners, heads and bursars test next year's numbers before they set fees. Enter enrolment and tuition by class, other fees, your expected collection rate, discounts, outstanding balances and running costs. It shows expected fee income, the surplus or shortfall, cost per student, the break-even fee and what-if scenarios. It runs in your browser.
Free, no sign-up Runs in your browser Reviewed
School Fee Budget Planner
All calculations happen in your browser and nothing you enter is sent to our server. If you tick Remember, your figures are saved in this browser only until you press Start again.
How to use the School Fee Budget Planner
- 1 Enter the number of terms, then each class or level with its students and tuition.
- 2 Add other fees, such as PTA, feeding, transport, ICT and exams, with the share of students who pay each one.
- 3 Enter your expected collection rate, discounts, scholarships and any unpaid balances brought forward.
- 4 List your running costs per month, term, year or student, then press Calculate my plan.
- 5 Read the summary and scenarios, then print the plan, save it as a PDF or download a CSV for a spreadsheet.
What it does
- Tuition by class or level, plus any number of other fees charged per term or per year
- Collection rate, discounts, scholarships and outstanding balances treated separately, so billed and collected figures stay apart
- Running costs per month, term, year or per student (per-student costs follow enrolment)
- Surplus or shortfall, cost per student, break-even fee and break-even enrolment
- Scenarios for enrolment 10% down or up, a lower collection rate and your own what-if
- Summary tables and a simple chart, with CSV download and print or save as PDF
Useful for proprietors and directors of private schools, head teachers and bursars setting fees and school boards reviewing a budget.
Limitations
- It plans one year at a time and spreads income evenly; it is not a month-by-month cash-flow forecast.
- It is a planning aid, not accounting software or a school management system, and it does not keep student or fee records.
- Results depend on your figures. The example figures are made up and are not typical fees or costs.
- It does not cover tax, loans, capital projects or any rules that apply to setting or raising fees: ask your accountant and the relevant authorities.
Billed is not the same as collected
The most common budgeting mistake in schools is treating fees billed as money in the bank. The planner keeps four figures apart:
- Fees billed: every student’s tuition plus the other fees they pay.
- Net fees billed: fees billed less discounts (as a share of tuition) and scholarships or bursaries.
- Expected fee income: net fees billed multiplied by your collection rate, plus the share of old balances you expect to recover.
- Running costs: salaries, utilities, rent, supplies, maintenance, food and everything else, converted to a yearly figure.
The difference between expected fee income and running costs is your surplus or shortfall for the year.
The formulas behind the results
Cost per student is running costs ÷ students. It tells you what each place costs to run, whatever you charge.
Break-even fee. The planner finds the single percentage change to all fees that makes expected income equal running costs: (running costs − balances recovered) ÷ collection rate + scholarships, divided by fees billed after discounts. It shows the result as an average fee per student per term and as a percentage change to today’s fees.
Break-even enrolment uses the standard break-even formula, fixed costs ÷ (price − variable cost). Here the price is the average net fee collected per student and the variable cost is your per-student costs. If each extra student brings in less than they cost, the planner says break-even is not reachable at current fees.
A worked example
Press Fill in example figures to load a made-up school of 310 students in four levels, with fees per term, an 85% collection rate, 3% discounts, GHS 20,000 of scholarships and GHS 60,000 of old balances, 40% of which it expects to recover. The example is there to show how the planner works; the numbers are not typical fees or costs.
With those figures the school has a small surplus. The scenario table shows that it only just breaks even if enrolment falls by 10%, and runs at a shortfall if the collection rate drops by 10 points. For this school, chasing unpaid fees matters as much as filling places.
Reading your results
- A shortfall in the base plan means fees, enrolment or costs need to change. Check the break-even fee and enrolment to see how far you are from covering costs.
- A shortfall only in a scenario shows where you are exposed. Plan what you would do if it happened: a cost you could delay, or a fee reminder schedule.
- A large gap between billed and collected points to collection. Clear payment options help: payment gateways such as Paystack let parents in Ghana pay with MTN, AirtelTigo or Telecel mobile money and authorise on their phones.
Turning the plan into practice
A budget is only as good as the fee records behind it. If your bursar reconciles payments by hand, our software development team builds fee portals and school systems with Mobile Money payments, receipts and arrears reports. To list what your school needs first, use the school management system requirements tool. For staff salary costs, the Ghana PAYE calculator shows tax on each salary.
Frequently asked questions
How do I work out a break-even school fee?
Take your running costs for the year, subtract the old balances you expect to recover, divide by your collection rate and add your scholarships. That is the net amount you must bill. Allow for discounts and divide by the number of students to get the average fee each student must be billed. The planner does this for you and shows it per term.
What is a fee collection rate?
It is the share of fees billed that the school actually receives in the period. If a term's bills total GHS 100,000 and parents pay GHS 85,000 by the end of the year, the collection rate is 85%. Last year's figure is the best starting point for next year's budget.
Should unpaid fees from last year count as income?
Only the part you realistically expect to recover. The planner keeps balances brought forward separate from this year's fees and asks what share you expect to collect, so old debts do not make the budget look healthier than it is.
Why separate per-student costs from fixed costs?
Costs such as food for a feeding programme rise and fall with enrolment, while rent and most salaries do not change if a few students leave. Keeping them apart makes the enrolment scenarios and the break-even enrolment realistic.
Is this school accounting software?
No. It is a planning tool for testing fees and costs before the year starts. It does not record payments, issue receipts or keep student accounts; a school management system or accounting software does that.
Are my figures sent anywhere?
No. The planner runs in your browser. Your figures stay on this device, and are saved there only if you tick Remember. Download the CSV or print the plan to keep a copy.
Sources
Phoot Technologies
Collect fees with less chasing
We build school software and fee portals for schools in Ghana, including Mobile Money payments, receipts and arrears reports that bursars can trust.
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