Quick answers to common questions about invoicing, payments, AutoPay, subsidies, and payment reconciliation for US schools.
Dashboard: us.illumine.app
1. Where can I print or resend a paid invoice?
You can print or resend invoices from the Invoices section.
Go to Tuition & Billing > Invoices.
Find the invoice you need.
Click the three dots at the end of its row to access options such as Print and Send.
You can also use the tabs to view Debit Notes and Upcoming Invoices.
2. A parent paid cash before the invoice was generated. How do I record it?
You cannot record a payment directly against an upcoming invoice. Instead, add the amount as a credit balance and let Illumine apply it when the invoice is generated.
Follow these steps:
Open the child's profile and go to the Billing tab.
Select New Transaction > Credit to add a Credit Balance.
On the child's plan, enable Auto-settle invoices with available credit.
When the invoice is generated, the available credit will be used to settle it.
Good to know:
Credit added after an invoice has already been generated is not applied automatically. Open the invoice, click Record Payment, and select Credit Balance.
Do not add the same credit twice.
Set up split billing is a separate feature. It splits a child's invoices between family members based on percentages. Subsidies and financial aid are covered in Question 8.
3. How does a parent enable AutoPay?
There is no school-side setting required to enable AutoPay. Parents can turn it on themselves after saving a payment method in the Parent App.
Ask the parent to:
Open the Parent App.
Go to Profile > Payments > Payment Profile.
Add a card or bank account.
Switch on AutoPay.
Good to know:
Staff can check whether AutoPay is enabled on the child's Billing tab, under the Payment Methods sub-tab. This tab appears once the parent has added a payment method.
AutoPay runs on the invoice due date at 11:30 AM Eastern Time, regardless of the school's timezone.
4. Can a parent pay more than the invoice amount?
Yes. When making a payment, parents can select Other Amount under Pay Now and enter an amount higher than the invoice total.
The excess amount is added to the child's Credit Balance and can be used toward the next invoice.
5. One parent has two children. Can they pay both children's invoices together?
Each child's balance is maintained separately, so every child has their own invoices.
However, parents using the iOS Parent App can select invoices across multiple children and pay them together in one transaction. Support for this on Android is coming later.
Good to know: The processing fee applies per invoice, not per payment.
6. Why was a late fee not charged to an overdue invoice?
The grace period is calculated from the invoice's due date, not the date the invoice was generated.
For example:
Invoice generated: September 3
Due date: September 8
Grace period: 5 days
Payment made: September 11
In this example, the payment is still within the grace period, so the late fee will not be applied.
7. The deposits list is missing some families. How can I find them?
The Time Range filter defaults to This Month, which may hide older deposits.
To view more deposits:
Go to Tuition & Billing > Student Balances.
Open the Deposit tab.
Change the Time Range filter to This Year or select a custom date range.
Good to know: A small, unexplained entry on a family's ledger may be a chargeback from a failed bank payment rather than a late fee.
8. How can I choose or change the payment reminder email?
The email template is selected when you configure the payment reminder automation.
Follow these steps:
Go to Tuition & Billing > Payment Reminder.
Under Setup Automation, click Add Email.
Choose the email template you want to use.
Under Generate For, select either the invoice creation date or the due date.
Set the reminder timing.
To update the email wording, open the Email Templates tab and edit the template.
Good to know:
Email templates cannot be copied between centers directly from the dashboard. Contact Support if you need a template cloned.
Editing system email templates requires the Edit System Email Templates permission.
9. Billing emails keep coming to my inbox. Can I send them to our finance team instead?
Yes. You can add your finance team's email address to the billing email CC list.
Go to Settings > Billing.
Find the Invoice section.
Enter the finance team's email address under Emails to cc on billing emails.
Click Save.
10. How do I bill a subsidy agency?
Illumine does not currently support generating invoices directly for subsidy agencies. Instead, you can add the agency as a provider, record the subsidy amount for each child, and apply the funds when the agency pays.
Follow these steps:
Go to Tuition & Billing > Subsidy and set up the agency as a Subsidy Provider.
Open the child's profile and go to the Billing tab.
Click Add Subsidy and enter the amount per billing cycle, not the total amount.
Use Open Calculator to view the split between the agency and the parent.
Leave the expiry date blank if the subsidy should continue for as long as billing runs.
When the agency's payment arrives, open the provider, click Add Fund, and record the payment against the children's invoices.
Good to know:
We recommend testing the setup with one child first.
The current navigation is Tuition & Billing > Subsidy.
11. A payment did not sync to QuickBooks. How can I fix it, and how do I reconcile Adyen payouts?
QuickBooks may reject charges if they have identical names. To resolve this:
Rename the duplicate charges so each has a unique name.
Click the three dots next to each charge and select Sync.
Open the invoice, click Actions, and select Sync.
Good to know: Adyen payouts do not sync to QuickBooks. You need to reconcile each bank deposit manually using the Online Payouts Report.
To find the report, go to Reports > Billing > Online Payouts Report. It lists the individual payments included in each payout.
12. Can I get a bank deposit breakdown by invoice line item?
No. Payments are recorded against entire invoices, not individual invoice line items.
As an alternative, use these two reports:
Line Item Report: Shows what was billed.
Online Payouts Report: Shows the payments included in each Adyen payout.
Good to know: The Deposit Report is different. It only lists refundable deposits held for parents.