Financial Management

School Management

Student Billing Software for Colleges: Bursar Accounts, Payment Plans and 1098-T

Sherman Hsieh

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Last updated: October 13, 2026 · Independent buyer’s guide · We do not sell rankings or coverage.

Student billing software is the set of tools a college bursar uses to assess tuition and fees, post financial aid and sponsor credits, present eBills, collect payments and payment plans, issue refunds and produce Form 1098-T. At most colleges the student account ledger lives in the student information system (SIS), such as Ellucian Banner or Colleague, Oracle PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, Workday Student or Populi, and a bolt-on payment platform such as TouchNet, Transact Cashnet, Flywire or Nelnet handles the student-facing bill, payments and plans. The right mix depends on how much your SIS already does well and how many payer types you bill.

How college student billing works

Every charge, credit and payment for a student posts to a student account ledger in the SIS. It is a subsidiary receivables ledger whose detail codes map to GL accounts, so your general or fund accounting system (see our guide to nonprofit accounting software) receives summarized postings rather than individual student transactions.

A typical term runs through six stages:

1. Assessment. Registration triggers tuition and fee calculation by program, residency, credit load and course.
2. Aid and sponsor credits. Financial aid posts as anticipated credits, then as disbursed credits. Sponsor contracts move eligible charges to an employer or agency account.
3. Billing. The SIS or payment platform publishes an eBill showing charges, pending aid and the amount due. Authorized users, usually parents, see it only with the student’s consent.
4. Collection. Students pay in full or enroll in a payment plan. Payments post back to the ledger in real time or by batch.
5. Refunds. Credit balances from aid or overpayment go out by direct deposit or check.
6. Year-end tax reporting. The institution produces Form 1098-T for each student with a reportable transaction, furnishes it to the student and files it with the IRS.

The federal rules your ledger has to respect

Title IV crediting and authorizations

Under 34 CFR 668.164(c), you may credit a student’s ledger with Title IV funds for allowable charges in the current payment period: tuition, fees and institutionally provided room and board. Books, supplies and other educationally related charges need the student’s or parent’s authorization. You may also pay up to $200 of prior-year charges from current-year funds (eCFR, 34 CFR 668.164, up to date as of October 8, 2026).

Section 668.165(b) says you cannot require or coerce an authorization, and the student or parent can cancel it at any time. Held credit balances must be tracked in a subsidiary ledger for each student and paid out within 14 days if the authorization is cancelled (eCFR, 34 CFR 668.165, up to date as of October 8, 2026). In software terms, your aid application rules need a payment priority that knows which detail codes Title IV may pay and which it may only pay with a stored authorization flag.

Credit balance refunds

A Title IV credit balance must be paid to the student or parent no later than 14 days after it occurs, or 14 days after the first day of class if it occurred before classes began (eCFR, 34 CFR 668.164(h)). Your refund process needs a daily credit balance report that shows the days remaining on each balance.

Form 1098-T

The IRS instructions state that Box 1 reports “the total amount of payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses” from all sources during the year, reduced by related refunds, and that Box 1 is not reduced by Box 5 scholarships and grants. Box 5 includes scholarships and grants you administered and processed, including most third-party payments other than family members and loan proceeds. Exceptions include non-credit courses, nonresident aliens who do not ask for a form, and formal billing arrangements with an employer or government entity where you keep no separate student account (IRS, Instructions for Forms 1098-E and 1098-T, last reviewed April 30, 2026).

Statements are due to students on or before January 31 of the year after the calendar year being reported (26 U.S.C. 6050S(d), Cornell LII, no date shown). Electronic delivery requires student consent, and the e-file threshold is 10 returns in aggregate, so almost every college must e-file.

The filing channel is changing this cycle. The IRS says the last day to file through the FIRE system is November 19, 2026, and that IRIS will be the only electronic filing system for information returns after January 1, 2027. Current FIRE users need an IRIS Transmitter Control Code (IRS, FIRE system retirement, last reviewed October 12, 2026). If your SIS exports a FIRE-format file, as Populi’s documented 1098-T export does (Populi Help Center, no date shown), ask the vendor now how you will file tax year 2026 forms.

Where student billing goes wrong

• Aid timing gaps. Anticipated aid that is not shown on the eBill makes students look delinquent, which triggers holds and late fees the office later reverses with manual credit memos. See our explainer on credit memos.
• Sponsor contracts handled outside the SIS. When employer or agency billing runs on spreadsheets, sponsor balances sit on the student’s account, holds fire, and the 1098-T Box 5 figure is wrong.
• Payment plans that do not rebalance. A plan set up in August does not change when a Pell disbursement or a schedule change lands in September, so students overpay or default.
• Two ledgers. A payment platform that keeps its own balance and posts to the SIS overnight creates reconciliation breaks every time a batch fails.
• Weak aging. Without an accounts receivable aging report split by term and by student, sponsor and payment-plan balances, collection decisions and allowance estimates rest on guesswork.

How software handles student billing

SIS-native student accounts modules

The SIS student accounts module owns the ledger. Oracle’s documentation for PeopleSoft Campus Solutions lists tuition and fee calculation, billing, refunds, payment plans, automated collections, general ledger integration, 1098-T reporting and third-party split or directed payments as Student Financials business processes (Oracle PeopleBooks, Campus Solutions 9.0, no date shown).

Workday Student documents sponsor contracts that cap total and per-student amounts, generate invoices to the sponsor and send overpayment refunds to the sponsor by default. It does not automatically disburse sponsor contract payments (Workday Documentation, last updated September 18, 2026). Workday generates 1098-T forms from student financial data, but it does not calculate Box 10, which you enter manually (Workday Documentation, last updated June 23, 2023).

Populi sets up tuition schedules and fees that create pending charges when a student enrolls, manages payment plans in Billing, disburses and refunds aid, and lets students pay online by credit card (Populi Help Center, no date shown). Ellucian Banner and Colleague and Anthology Student, the other SIS platforms that bolt-on vendors list integrations with, do not publish pricing.

Bolt-on billing and payment platforms

Bolt-on platforms present the bill, take card and ACH payments, run plans and send refunds, then post back to the SIS ledger.

• TouchNet Bill+Payment (TouchNet is a Global Payments company) includes a Student Account Center with statements, parent pay and a consent manager, TouchNet Payment Plans, which can charge setup and late fees, and eRefunds for refunds and aid disbursement. TouchNet’s pages describe real-time posting to the campus ERP but do not name SIS integrations or publish prices (TouchNet, no date shown).
• Flywire covers billing with 1098-T management included, payment plans that rebalance when aid changes, automated collections outreach, refunds and aid disbursements through Outgoing Payments, and third-party invoicing for sponsors, employers and government payers. It lists integrations with Ellucian Banner and Colleague, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Workday, Unit4 and Anthology, and supports payments from more than 240 countries and territories. Prices are not published (Flywire, no date shown).
• Transact Cashnet is used for eBills and tuition payment plans at institutions such as Salisbury University, which notes that a convenience fee applies to credit card payments (Salisbury University, no date shown). We could not confirm Transact’s current feature list or pricing on its own site.
• Nelnet services payment plans for colleges such as Colorado State University, which lists payment plan enrollment fees of $30 for summer, $50 for fall or spring and $70 for an annual plan on its student billing page (Colorado State University, last modified August 5, 2026).
• Heartland ECSI presents and mails 1098-T forms for colleges such as Sacred Heart University, with an electronic consent deadline of January 1 (Sacred Heart University, no date shown).

Comparison of approaches

What student billing software costs

Most vendors in this category do not publish prices. These are the published figures we could confirm on October 13, 2026:

• Populi: $199 per month base fee plus $9 per month per billable student, counted as any student taking a course that month, with implementation and support included; payment processors charge separately (Populi pricing, no date shown).
• Nelnet payment plans: Colorado State University lists plan enrollment fees of $30 to $70 per plan on its student billing page (source above).
• TouchNet, Flywire, Transact, Heartland ECSI, Ellucian, Oracle, Workday and Anthology: not published.

When you collect quotes, ask for the platform fee, per-transaction card and ACH fees, who pays convenience fees, refund disbursement fees, 1098-T per-form fees and the integration build cost for your SIS.

Worked example: one student’s fall term

Illustration only; the figures are invented to show the posting logic. For one fall term the SIS assesses $8,400 tuition, $600 mandatory fees and $3,000 for institutional housing, a total of $12,000. Aid of $8,300 posts: a $3,700 Pell Grant, a $2,600 Direct Loan and a $2,000 institutional scholarship. Title IV funds may pay all three charge types without authorization because they are current-period tuition, fees and institutional housing.

The student’s employer has agreed to pay up to $2,500 of tuition. A sponsor contract moves $2,500 from the student’s account to the employer’s account and invoices the employer after the drop/add date (the University of Idaho uses the same timing; no date shown). The eBill shows $1,200 due from the student, and the student enrolls in a four-installment plan of $300 each.

At year end, assuming all fall charges were paid during the calendar year and the institution applies payments to qualified charges first, Box 1 shows $9,000, the qualified tuition and fees paid. Box 5 shows $8,200: the Pell Grant, the institutional scholarship and the employer payment once received. Loan proceeds stay out of Box 5. If the sponsor arrangement had been handled offline, Box 5 would understate by $2,500.

Three buyer scenarios

A 900-student trade school or seminary. An SIS with native billing, such as Populi, avoids a second integration. At the published rate, 900 billable students cost $8,299 per month before processor fees. Confirm that the 1098-T export supports IRIS before January 2027.

A 12,000-student public university on Banner. If you already run a bolt-on for eBills and plans, check whether staff still handle sponsor invoicing and plan rebalancing by hand, and compare your current TouchNet or Cashnet scope against Flywire’s documented sponsor and rebalancing features before renewal.

A private college moving to Workday Student. Workday documents native sponsor contracts and 1098-T generation. Plan for its documented gaps, such as manual Box 10 entry and manual sponsor disbursement, and decide whether a payment platform still needs to own the student portal and card processing.

When you do not need dedicated student billing software

You may not need a separate billing platform if you run a single program with flat tuition, no Title IV aid and few payers. Your SIS billing module, or an invoicing tool plus a payment gateway, can work, and non-credit programs do not need 1098-T forms.

Once you participate in Title IV, bill sponsors, offer payment plans or exceed a few hundred students, manual tracking of authorizations, 14-day credit balance clocks and Box 5 sponsor amounts becomes a compliance risk.

How we researched this

We read the current eCFR text of 34 CFR 668.164, 668.165 and 99.30, the IRS instructions for Form 1098-T, the IRS FIRE retirement notice and 26 U.S.C. 6050S. We reviewed vendor documentation from Oracle, Workday, Populi, TouchNet and Flywire, and college pages describing Nelnet, Transact Cashnet and Heartland ECSI. Top-ranking pages for this term focus on K-12 tuition billing and skip Title IV crediting, sponsor billing and 1098-T filing. No vendor paid for inclusion.

Related guides

• R2T4 Calculation: Steps, 45-Day Deadline and Worked Example
• Higher Education ERP: Finance, HR and Student Systems
• Tuition Management Software: Pricing and Fees (2026)

Frequently asked questions

Can financial aid pay for parking fines or library fees?

Only with authorization. Title IV funds can pay current tuition, fees and institutional room and board without consent, but other charges need a written authorization from the student or parent under 34 CFR 668.165(b). The student can cancel that authorization at any time.

When is the 1098-T due to students?

By January 31 of the year after the reported calendar year, under 26 U.S.C. 6050S(d). You can deliver it electronically only to students who have given consent that meets IRS rules. Students who do not consent get a paper copy.

How do colleges file 1098-T forms electronically after FIRE closes?

Through IRIS. The IRS says FIRE accepts its last filings on November 19, 2026, and IRIS is the only electronic filing system for information returns after January 1, 2027. You need an IRIS Transmitter Control Code and a file format your SIS or 1098-T vendor supports.

Can parents see a student’s bill?

Only if the student consents. FERPA requires signed and dated written consent that names the records, the purpose and the recipient, and 34 CFR 99.30 allows that consent to be electronic. Student billing platforms handle this through authorized-user or consent features.

Sources

• eCFR, 34 CFR 668.164 Disbursing funds, up to date as of October 8, 2026
• eCFR, 34 CFR 668.165 Notices and authorizations, up to date as of October 8, 2026
• eCFR, 34 CFR 99.30 Prior consent to disclose, up to date as of October 8, 2026
• IRS, Instructions for Forms 1098-E and 1098-T, last reviewed April 30, 2026
• IRS, FIRE system retirement, last reviewed October 12, 2026
• 26 U.S.C. 6050S, Cornell Legal Information Institute, no date shown
• Oracle, PeopleSoft Student Financials business processes (vendor documentation), no date shown
• Workday, Student sponsor contracts (vendor documentation), last updated September 18, 2026
• Workday, 1098-T reporting (vendor documentation), last updated June 23, 2023
• Populi, Pricing (vendor), no date shown
• Populi, Introduction to Populi Financial (vendor), no date shown
• Populi, IRS 1098T (vendor), no date shown
• TouchNet, Bill+Payment (vendor), no date shown
• Flywire, Education solution (vendor), no date shown
• Salisbury University, Student Account, no date shown
• Colorado State University, Payment Plans, last modified August 5, 2026
• Sacred Heart University, IRS 1098-T Educational Form, no date shown
• University of Idaho, Third Party Billing, no date shown

6774 Overall Score

Sherman Hsieh

CEO & Editor-in-Chief, Business-Software.com
Independent analysis of enterprise software — ERP, CRM and more

Sherman Hsieh is the founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Business-Software.com. He leads the site's independent, buyer-focused coverage of ERP, CRM, and other business systems, including vendor-neutral comparisons, pricing analysis, and implementation guidance. Before founding Business-Software.com, Sherman was an executive at Siebel ...