FAQ

Our aim is to provide world-class care and education to the children – facilities, educational resources, qualified teachers, and procedures creating an environment that encourages stability and development. This is associated with expenditures, which are yet not covered by the fees that the parents/guardians pay. These costs are undertaken by the owner of St. George International School and Preschool.

Upon signing of the tuition contracts, each family was offered to select a payment option corresponding to their desires and capabilities. In this regard, we are more flexible than other schools. In line with the best practice, a clause regulating overdue payments and relevant accrued penalties has always been included in the tuition contract. In 2020, we have invested in an ePayment platform that enables automation of processes pertaining to accrual and accounting of due and paid amounts and prompt information to the parents/guardians at all times. In regard to the epidemic situation as well as the lack of foreseeability of family expenses, we have postponed the implementation of the automatic accrual of penalties. It has been launched just in May 2021.

St. George International School and Preschool makes considerable investments aiming at delivering of information on the balance of payments between parents/guardians and school/preschool on a daily basis.

The developed ePayment Portal gives clear and precise information. Each parent upon signing of a tuition contract receives username and password for access to log in within 48 hours and choose personal password for access.

The Accounting Department of St. George International School and Preschool issues an invoice for each payment due (tuition fee, food fee, extracurricular activities, re-issuance of a card, water, protective masks, and others) that shall be displayed on the platform within 24 hours of its issuance.

The preparation of the academic year is a long process, which we address responsibly and professionally. The planning of the current academic year for the upcoming one begins in February and relevantly our liabilities to partner organisations and providers have certain deadlines. Meanwhile, the provision of funds for the remuneration of the teachers as well as the investments in their professional development is crucial so they could be calm and motivated to give their best to the children.

We are subject to supervision by the regulatory agencies, auditors, and certification bodies. In this regard, we could not freely change contracts and payments conditions.

We would like to assure you that our goal is not collecting money from penalties. We use this tool in order to establish a practice for observing of the due dates defined in the contracts – deadlines which the parents/guardians choose, but often do not keep. We are certain you understand that if everybody would pay when and as much as he/she likes, we could not plan our incomes, nor undertake obligations towards staff and partners and we would not be able to fulfill such obligations.

We strive constantly to enhance the opportunities which we offer to the children, to ensure calm and stimulating environment for them as well as for the teachers and therefore we need predictability and cash flow planning.

Below you will find systematic information about processes concerning contracts signing and payments as well as answers to frequently asked questions.

• The tuition fees for the upcoming academic year, the deferred payment options and the deadline for tuition contract signing will be published until the end of February, as the procedure is described in details in the General Terms and Conditions, an integral part of the Tuition Contract.

• Every single tuition contract, elaborated and provided to the parents/guardians along with a Payment Plan affirming particular due dates for payment of any fee, which is an integral part of the tuition contract, should be signed within the stated deadlines.

• If the parents/guardians fail to sign a contract and/or Payment Plan within the stated deadline and do not make payment, the school is not obliged to keep the place and is entitled to offer it to another student.

• After a positive admission statement the following documents will be signed as follows:

– Filled in Enrolment Application by the parents/guardians;

– Tuition Contract and General Terms and Conditions and Payment Plan, which are signed via online platform.

• Upon signing of a tuition contract for the next academic year an application with updated personal data and Payment Plan should be signed within the given deadline.

• In case of signed contract for a stage of education, a Payment Plan for the next academic year should be signed. In case the parents/guardians fail to sign a Payment plan within the deadline set by the Admission Department, the school is not obliged to keep the place and may terminate the contract.

• Each parent/guardian should provide a bank account for all money transfers, including reimbursement of overpaid and undue amounts after performed recapitulation. Missing information about bank account or change of the bank account during the academic year without notifying in writing St. George International School and Preschool will lead to obstructions in the financial calculations and the use of the e-Payment system by the parents/guardians.

• The liability for payment shall incur upon signing a contract and/or Payment Plan. The availability or lack of availability of an invoice is not a reason for non-payment, as the due date is explicitly stated in the Payment Plan.

• The main currency used to issue and invoices the fees is EUR, however being paid in Bulgarian levs (BGN) as per the exchange rate of the Bulgarian National Bank on the date of payment.

• In case of transfer in foreign currency to the bank account of the school or the preschool, the amount shall be converted to BGN as per the buying exchange rate of UniCredit Bulbank AD on the date of payment. Hence the amount, subject to payment, will appear insufficient and outstanding balance will remain due, and it will be subject to penalties for delayed payment.

• Change in the Payment plan, due to difficulties or failure to meet the payment deadlines – if you would like to change the payment scheme which was initially selected – such as number of installments, due dates, and such change may be possible after written request by the parents/guardians and further elaboration of the documentation needed. Change is possible only for installments which are to be invoiced and/or have not expired due date. The request for change is confirmed in writing to the Admission Department to the email admissions@stgeorgeschool.eu. Then a new Payment plan shall be signed which states the new installments and due dates, and an invoice for the payment of an administrative fee will be issued at the amount of 50 EUR, as a change in the conditions following contract signing has been requested.

The system automatically charges penalties for delay to the amount of 0,5% over the due amount per each day of delay, but not more than 20% of the due amount in the bank account of the school and the preschool. In case the Tuition Fee payment is not sufficient to cover the calculated penalty and the capital, it is necessary that the penalty is paid first and afterwards the principal. Over the remaining principal will be calculated penalty for delay until the moment of its full payment.

Examples:

Invoice of due amount at the amount of 1 000,00 BGN, with due date 30.06.2021, a transfer received to the bank account of the organisation on 15.07.2021.

On 15.07.2021 the system displays the liabilities as follows:

• Principal – 1 000,00 BGN
• Calculated penalty up to 15.07.2021, equal to 75 BGN /for 15 days x 0,5%/.

Example 1:

In case of transfer on 15.07.2021 of the total principal and the calculated penalty up to the moment at the size of 1075,00 BGN, the total principal as well as the calculated penalty up to the moment is being redeemed.

Example 2:

In case of transfer on 15.07.2021 of the principal only – 1 000,00, the calculated penalty at the amount of 75,00 BGN is paid first and afterwards with the residual 925,00 BGN the principal is partially paid.

The outstanding amount is unpaid principal at the amount of 75,00 BGN, on which the system will continue to accrue penalty until its full redemption.

Example 3:

In case of transfer on 15.07.2021 of an amount which is insufficient to redeem both the principal in full and the calculated penalty up to the moment, i.e. in case of transfer of 1050,00 BGN instead of 1075,00 BGN, the calculated penalty at the amount of 75,00 BGN is paid FIRST and afterwards with the residual 975,00 BGN the principal is partially paid.

The outstanding amount is unpaid principal at the amount of 25,00 BGN, on which the system will continue to accrue penalty until its full redemption.

Other examples:

Different fees divided into categories – tuition, educational resources and exams; food and fresh juice; water and protective masks; lost textbooks and suffered material damages; access cards; extracurricular activities, uniforms.

The system does not allow consolidation of payments related to the different fees due to the different deadlines.

Example 4:

It is possible the school or the preschool have payments due by the parents/guardians of Food Fee and Fresh Fee, and at the same time there is an issued credit note so the parents/guardians have to receive reimbursement for paid fee for Extracurricular Activities.

In such case the system does not allow deduction, therefore the parent should pay the amount of the invoice for food and fresh, and the school or the preschool shall reimburse into the bank account stated by the parents/guardians the amount consistent with the credit note.

Here you may find our information for all issued documents /invoices/ for due amounts about:

– Tuition fee, according to the Payment Plan, an integral part of the contract;

– Educational resources and exams fee;

– Food fee;

– Fresh fee, in line with the requested consumption by the parent/guardian;

– Extracurricular activities fee, in line with the activities requested by the parent/guardian;

– Green and white school according to the programme, requested by the parents/guardians;

– Individual care fee upon request by the parents/guardians or fee for stay after the end of the school day;

– Other, including charges for water, protective mask, access cards, uniforms, school accessories, textbooks that are not returned, material damages caused by the student, etc.;

– Guarantee deposit, included in the Payment plan and due within 3 days from signing of a tuition contract. Upon transition from the preschool to the school the deposit is transferred from the preschool into the school.

Credit notes for reimbursement of amounts are issued in case of:

– Partial reimbursement of Food fee and Fresh fee – recapitulation is performed on an annual basis, until 31^st of July after the end of each school year, pursuant to the General Terms and Conditions to the Tuition contract;

– Partial reimbursement of Extracurricular Activities fee – recapitulation is performed on an annual basis, until 31^st of July after the end of each school year, pursuant to the General Terms and Conditions to the Tuition contract;

– Partial reimbursement of Tuition fee – in case of early termination of the tuition contract, within 14 days term, as of the date of termination;

– Reimbursement of Deposit – upon expiration of the term of the contract or in accordance with the conditions for early termination of the contract, within 14 days term, as of the date of termination;

– Reimbursement of Green and White schools fee – in case of cancelled green and white schools, within 14 days term following a credit note issue.

Any reimbursement will be done if the information for updated bank account of the parents/guardians is available.

– Request extracurricular activities;

– Refer to the student’s timetable in order to choose suitable timeslots for extracurricular activities, i.e. to request sports activity on the days when the child has none in the regular timetable.

Payment of invoices issued on the occasion of execution of a tuition contract of a child and/ or of a pupil at “St. George” Preschool and/ or “St. George” International School.

We recommend all payments to be done through the “Online Platform for Electronic Payments” using:

 – Debit/Credit card;

 – Bank transfer;

Hence the information will be automatically listed and further the possibility for a mistake reduces to minimum. Using these methods of payment, you will never overpay or delay a payment.

When the payment is completed through the Platform an immediate notification for the performed payment appears and the system stops accruing penalties as of the date on which the payment was performed through the parent’s/guardian’s account.

After processing the information received after the actual end of the day, with the date of the transactions, first the penalty which was accumulated up to the date of the transfer is covered and then the principal.

It is possible to pay via a bank transfer to the bank account, but then you will always have a day of delay, as the funds will be transferred later and therefore will be considered as paid at the moment when they are received into the organisation’s bank account.

When you pay on a day, preceding weekends or national holidays, the amount will be received on the first working day following the holidays.

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Steps:

“Online Platform for Electronic Payments” (see Figure 1).

Every parent has been provided credentials via email. It is necessary to follow the instructions provided in this e-mail in order to choose and set a password in order to be able to use the system’s functionalities. To access the Platform for Electronic Payments, log in with your e-mail address (arrow 1) and password (arrow 2) which you have set (see Figure 1).

Important:

Please note that your account activation link will expire in 48 hours. You need to send an email to reception@stgeorgeschool.eu in case you fail to keep this deadline.    

Please, take into consideration the size of the amount due and your debit/credit card limit. It is recommended to pay via Bank transfer using the e-Payment platform if the amount is larger than the limit.

Figure 1.

After you access the Platform, you will be able to see the main dashboard with the information about the active contracts up to date (see Figure 2). Parents/guardians with more than one child, enrolled in the Preschool and/or in the School, will be able to view information about pending payments, confirmed invoices, credit notes and balances for each child.

Figure 2.

The button ‘Show Summary’ allows you to track your current outstanding payments for each issued invoice with information about the following (see Figure 3):

• Document date and ID;
• Payment amounts;
• Due date and payment deadline;
• Visualisation of the document /in PDF format/.

Figure 3.

The payment option is available by clicking the ‘Invoices’ button. You can pay online with either a credit or debit card via Paysera system (see Figure 4).

If you have more than one outstanding payment, it is necessary to complete the oldest one first, as the system allows the invoices to be paid only in the order they have been created. It is also required to pay the full amount of the issued invoice, because the system does not authorize partial payments.

To complete a payment, you need to click the ‘Add to order’ button (arrow 1), appearing next to each invoice. If you wish to pay several invoices at once, you need to click the ‘Add to order’ button next to every single invoice. Next, click on the yellow ‘Checkout’ button (arrow 2), which will take you to a new window of the BORICA’s system.

Figure 4.

Before you complete the payment, you need to review all information presented by the system about the payee, the description, date and number of the invoice, payment amount, payment tax (if applicable) and other available information about the respective payment (see Figure 5).

Figure 5.

The next step is to insert your card credentials and other information necessary for the accomplishment of the transaction (see Figure 6). In this case, the system sends a message for the payment’s authorisation to BORICA AD, respectively to the bank issuer of the card. If the card has enough balance to complete the payment, including the payment tax (if applicable) and the overall sum is within the range of the card’s payment limits, the operation proceeds and BORICA AD, respectively the bank issuer of the card, sends back an authorisation code to the system, confirming the payment. The system informs  that the transaction is successful.

Figure 6.

If, for any reason, the payment is not successful (for instance, the card is blocked/deactivated, there is not enough balance, the card’s payment limits have been outreached, etc.), the system will inform you that the payment is not completed.

Your payment application is valid within 30 minutes. Once this session has expired, it is necessary to reload the page and create a new payment session.

In case of an issue, you can contact us at reception@stgeorgeschool.eu.

A User can make payment to the following traders: “ST. GEORGE” INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL EOOD, UIC 204426056 and “ST. GEORGE” PRESCHOOL EOOD, UIC 204425901.

At and on the occasion of using the Portal and the services it offers, the Preschool/ the International School will process data about the users pursuant to the Confidentiality and Personal Data Protection Policy of the e-pay Portal. In case a change of the specified in the registration form data occurred, the User is obliged to duly and timely update the information in its client profile, in the provided for that purpose place, or to contact us for assistance in making this change.

St. George International School and Preschool is not liable according to the Tuition contract to inform in writing, via telephone or email for issued invoices, paid amounts, due and outstanding amounts. Each parent should inform oneself in a timely manner through online “e-Payment Portal” for liabilities emerged in compliance with the signed Payment Plan.

Nevertheless, the system automatically sends email messages:

– on 30^th of each month for outstanding amounts;

– 3 /three/ days before any due date in line with the Payment Plan, in order to avoid delay and calculation of penalties.

Should you have any urgent questions, you can send an email to: reception@stgeorgeschool.eu or accounting@stgeorgeschool.eu.

Information regarding due amounts and dates is available in the:

– Payment Plan;

– Invoices issued by the school/preschool;

– Personal profiles in the platform where you can see in detail each document issued as well as a statement for outstanding amounts to a certain period.

Portal users are parents/ guardians of a child at St. George Preschool or of a pupil at “St. George” International School. No registration of users-legal entities is performed.

Following a registration by an administrator of the International School/ the Preschool and creation of a “User’s Profile”. The user’s profile is created to an e-mail of a parent/ guardian of a child/ pupil, who attends “St. George” Preschool and/ or “St. George” International School. The Administrator of the Preschool/ the International School creates a User’s Profile and sends a notification by e-mail to the parent/ guardian to confirm the activation of his/ her profile in the Portal. The User should enter the Portal, then choose and enter a password. Access to all the services from the Portal is performed by means of a combination of the electronic address and the password, given by the user. The access to the platform is via the school website, section “For parents”, where the following submenus are accessible:

– “Shkolo Parents profile” – where you can find information about your child and the school.

– “e-Payment Portal”- where you can find information for payments as well as to pay due amounts.

– “Activities” – where you could request extracurricular activities after the regular school day as well as to see the necessary information.