All families would have received their school fee statement for 2021 via email this week. Please check your emails to view this statement and read the covering page to outline the new centralised system.

The invoicing of school fees and the distribution of school fee statements each month is now a function carried out by the Catholic Education Office (CEOoW).  Payment of fees, whether as an annual payment or first payment by instalments is due on 28th February 2021.

Commencing in 2021, the issue of reminders for late payment via SMS and email will be introduced for schools on the new system.  These reminders are automatically generated by the software based on the number of days a payment is overdue.  For those families that may have difficulty in paying their school fees, these reminders may cause some concern. This is not the intention of CEOoW.  The intention is to manage the collection of school fee accounts with new technology and in so doing, alleviate some of the administrative work at school level.

Request to pay instalments - please complete a Request to Pay by Instalment Form which is available on your school’s website or at your school’s office.  On completion of the request either email it to instalments@dow.catholic.edu.au office or submit at your school’s office. Following receipt of the request, instalments will be generated on your account and a schedule of payments and due dates will be provided on your next school fee statement.  Please note it is only necessary to complete this form once during the period of child/children’s enrolment, unless you wish to amend your payment frequency. This form needs to be completed by families who have paid by instalments in previous years and haven't filled out the form.

Direct debit - Families who have completed a CDF Direct Debit form are to indicate the frequency and amount. Please ensure the amount and frequency matches the suggested ‘schedule’ on the last page of your fee statement. Should your direct debit not be the amount or higher than the scheduled amount, you will receive reminders via SMS and email that your account is overdue. 

The school or CEOoW cannot alter the direct debit amount without your authority. Please check the schedule against your debited amount to ensure it covers the due amount. The direct debit will continue deducting until you instruct the bank (via the CDF direct debit form) to cease or suspend payments. Setting up payment in BPAY is a great way to manage your payments and we encourage you to pay via BPAY rather than direct debit.

BPAY - Please check against your statement with the suggested ‘schedule’ on the last page of your fee statement and setup up your regular BPAY payments according to your schedule. Should the payment be less, then you will receive reminders via SMS and email that your account is overdue.

Receipts applied to account after 31st January 2021 - CEOoW have advised there was a need to suspend any receipt after 31/1/21 to deal with some issues in relation to billing and instalments.

Please be assured that CEOoW will commence the uploads towards the end of this week and all receipts will be up to date by the beginning of next week.

DIFFICULTY WITH PAYMENT
If you are experiencing financial difficulty, we encourage you to contact the school to discuss an arrangement that will assist you meet your commitments.  This may include the completion of a Diocesan Application for Fee Concession which is available from the administration office of each school.  Be reassured that your situation will be treated with strict confidentiality and respect for your circumstances. We encourage you to make this contact before the 28 February 2021 otherwise, the system will start sending you overdue reminders via SMS and email.