Every school fee, collected and matched to the right student.
SchoolKeeper integrates with your bank accounts, reads the statements and matches each fee payment to the right student by their student number. Your bursar confirms receipts instead of hunting for them.
- Accounting-ready
- USD and ZiG
- Bank statements
CBZ fees account
Statement for 21 to 23 October
- 21 OctUS$450.00
SCHOOL FEES 1012612345 T NYONI
- 21 OctUS$120.00
ECOCASH 101-21-0387-3
- 22 OctUS$380.00
FEES FOR RUTENDO MOYO U6
- 22 OctUS$200.00
CASH DEPOSIT HARARE BR
- 23 Oct−US$4.50
SERVICE FEE
Reading the statement…
Reconciliation in minutes instead of days.
One number for each child, on every payment
Every student gets a ten-digit student number that stays the same until they leave. Parents quote it when they pay at the bank or by EcoCash, so the money finds the child without anyone guessing.
- School
- Every school has its own three digits.
- Year
- The year the child joined.
- Running number
- The child's own number for that year.
- Check digit
- One wrong digit and the number no longer adds up.
A typo can't send the money to another child.
The last digit is worked out from the others. If a parent gets one digit wrong, the number stops adding up, and the payment waits for the bursar instead of landing on the wrong account.
The guide for parentsFrom the term’s invoices to the last debtor
The same four steps every term. SchoolKeeper does the matching and the arithmetic; your bursar makes the decisions.
- 1
Bill
Invoice the whole school for the term in one run.
- Set each fee once: tuition, boarding, levies
- Fee structures decide which classes and boarders pay what
- Preview the run, then email every family their invoice
- 2
Collect
Parents pay the way they already do, quoting the student number.
- Bank transfer, EcoCash, cash, or card on your machine
- Desk receipts are allocated to the right invoices
- Send, print or download each receipt as a PDF
- 3
Reconcile
Your bank statement is read for you and matched to students.
- CBZ statements arrive by email every day
- Fee payments are matched by student number, then by name
- One screen per statement: Needs attention, Ready, Done
- 4
Track
See who still owes, and how long it has been owing.
- Debtors by age: not yet due, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90, 90+ days
- Remind parents by email or SMS, with a preview first
- Email each family a PDF statement of account
Everything the bursary does with fees, in one place
No more invoices in one spreadsheet, receipts in a book and the bank statement on paper.
Students and parents
Student records
Class, boarding or day, parents and balance on one page. Find any student in seconds.
Spreadsheet upload
Bring your whole roll in from Excel instead of typing it in.
Student ID cards
Print a card for each student, with their student number and a QR code.
Parents and guardians
Link each child to their parents and mark who receives the bills.
Fees and billing
Fees and fee structures
Tuition, boarding and levies, with bulk price changes for a new year.
Term bill runs
One invoice per student, with a preview and a guard against billing twice.
Invoices and credit notes
Once-off charges, credit notes and cancellations, with Excel export.
USD and ZiG
Each currency is billed and tracked on its own, with a warning when an amount looks wrong.
Payments and the bank
Receipts
Cash, EcoCash, bank transfer and card payments, and refunds when needed.
Bank statements
CBZ statements by daily email, AFC statements by upload, matched to students.
Sweeps, charges and suspense
Transfers between accounts, bank charges and unknown deposits each have a place.
Missing statement alerts
An email at 06:00 when yesterday's statement hasn't arrived.
Running the bursary
Dashboard
Invoiced, outstanding and received, with bank and cash balances.
Reports
Receipts, invoices and debtors by day, month, currency or payment method.
Expenses and supplier bills
Record what the school spends, and bills to pay later with a due date.
Staff roles
Choose who can view, create, edit or delete in each part of the app.
Your accountant keeps Pastel
SchoolKeeper looks after student fees. Fee receipts go to your bookkeeper in a month-end journal, so they are never captured twice. It isn't a general ledger or a payroll system, and it doesn't ask you to replace one.
Handled in SchoolKeeper
- Fee payments from parents
- Receipts and refunds
- Debtors and statements
Left for your bookkeeper
- Bank charges and interest
- Sweeps between accounts
- Donations and other income
Made for mission and trust schools
A mission or trust can run dozens of schools, each with its own bursar and bank account. SchoolKeeper gives every one of them the same way of working.
Each school keeps its own books
Fees, students, bank accounts and bursary staff stay separate for every school.
One login across your schools
Staff who work for more than one school switch between them without signing out.
The right access for each person
A bursar, a clerk and a head see only the parts of the app their role allows.
Chegato High
Fees assistant
Parent: Hi, how much do I still owe for Tawanda?19:42
School: Tawanda Nyoni, Form 4, owes US$150.00. The last payment was US$300.00 on 21 October.19:42
Parent: How do I pay the rest?19:43
School: Pay into the school's fees account at the bank or by EcoCash, and write Tawanda's student number as the reference: 101‑26‑1234‑5.19:43
Parent: Can I talk to the bursar about paying in two parts?19:44
School: I've passed your message to the bursar. They'll reply to you here.19:44
Parents ask WhatsApp, not the bursar
Parents message the school on WhatsApp to ask what they owe, when their last payment arrived and how to pay. The assistant answers from the school's own records, only about their own children, at any hour. Anything else goes straight to the bursar.
Families can also see their invoices, receipts and statements in the parent portal. Receipts and statements go out by email, and reminders by email or SMS.
Looked after properly
Fee records are money records. They are treated that way.
Each school’s data kept apart
Every request is checked against the school it belongs to.
Roles for every staff member
View, create, edit and delete rights per area of the app.
Backed up every night
The database is copied off-site nightly and the copy is checked.
Guides for every task
Step-by-step help pages, and support on WhatsApp, phone and email.
Questions bursars and heads ask us
Do we have to stop using Pastel?
No. SchoolKeeper looks after student fees: billing, receipts and matching bank payments to students. Your accountant keeps their accounting package and receives the fee receipts from SchoolKeeper at month end, so nothing is captured twice.
Which banks do you read statements from?
CBZ statements can arrive by email every day and are read automatically. AFC Commercial Bank statements are uploaded by the bursar. If your school banks elsewhere, message us and we'll tell you what's possible.
How do parents know which student number to use?
Every child gets a ten-digit student number that never changes while they're at the school. It's on the slip or letter the school gives each family and on the student ID card. Parents quote it as the reference when they pay at the bank or by EcoCash.
What happens to a payment the app can't match?
It waits under Needs attention. The bursar picks the student, or puts it in suspense until someone finds out who paid. Nothing is receipted until a person confirms it.
Can we bill in both USD and ZiG?
Yes. Invoices, receipts, debtors and reports are kept per currency, so a USD balance and a ZiG balance never get added together.
Can parents see their balance?
Yes. Parents can ask the school's WhatsApp assistant what they owe, when their last payment arrived and how to pay. Families invited to the parent portal can also see their invoices, receipts, statements and messages from the school.
We run several schools. Does it work for a group?
Yes. Each school has its own students, fees and bank accounts, and staff who work across schools use one login to switch between them.
How much does it cost?
It depends on how many schools and students you have. Message us on WhatsApp with those numbers and we will send you a quote.
How do our staff learn to use it?
We help you set up your school. Every task has a step-by-step guide in the help centre, and support is a WhatsApp message or phone call away.
See your own bank statement matched
Message us on WhatsApp at +263 77 266 0055 to arrange a demo. Tell us how many schools and students you have, and we'll show you SchoolKeeper working the way your bursary does.
Book a demo on WhatsApp