Admin Fee Modeler Calculator Sandbox

Tuition Calculator Administrator Manual

1. Data Source

The calculator does not store the base tuition fee data. It scrapes the data from the Tuition Fees live page on the website.

• To Update Prices: Update the data via the WordPress Tuition Fees plugin page.
• To Sync: Go to Tuition Calculator > Dashboard and click “Fetch Latest Fees.”

2. Managing the School Year

Go to the Dashboard to configure the Academic Year.

• Start/End Dates: These control the Proration logic.
• Critical: When enrollment opens for the next year (e.g., in February for the following Fall), update these dates to the future school year.
• Smart Logic: The calculator is “smart enough” to handle current-year enrollments even if you change the dates to next year. It automatically checks “1 year prior” for any dates that look too early.

3. Financial Rules (Global Settings)

Use the Dashboard to set school-wide policies:

• Fallback Deposit: Only use if the scraper fails. Keep this at $1,300.
• Finance Fees: Set the Plan B ($25) and Plan C ($60) flat fees here.
• Credit Card %: This defaults to 3.0%. If the school negotiates a new rate with the bank, update it here to reflect it on all invoices immediately.

4. The “Fee Modeler”

• Use Case: Use this tool as sandbox to simulate “What If” scenarios during budget meetings.
• Example: “What if we raise the Manual Finance Fee to 4%?”
• Safety: Changes made in the Modeler are temporary. They do NOT affect the live website or the parents’ view.

5. Troubleshooting

• “No Fees Found”: Click “Fetch Latest Fees” on the Dashboard.
• “Proration Not Working”: Check that the Academic Year Start/End dates are set correctly in the Dashboard.
• “Deposit Shows as Payment Due”: This occurs if the prorated tuition is very low. The system caps the deposit so it never exceeds the total tuition. This is normal behavior.

Fee Modeler Shortcode