Free Fee Management Software for Coaching Institutes: Fee Plans, Dues and Receipts

What you get, free

The fee tools come with every free institute on Sikhami, alongside batches, attendance and video courses. There is no plan to upgrade to, no trial that runs out and no limit on the number of students.

Fee plans in monthly instalments

Fees live under the Fees tab of your institute. Give each student a fee plan with three things: the total in rupees, the number of monthly instalments, anything from 1 to 24, and the date the first one is due. A student who pays the whole fee at admission gets one instalment. A student on a year-long course who pays every month gets twelve.

Once the plan is in, you no longer work out at the end of the month who owes what from a register. When a student joins halfway through a session, set the first due date from the month they join. If a student has already paid part of the fee before you move to Sikhami, the simplest way is to make their plan for the amount still left.

The fee book: who has paid and who is overdue

The fee book is the list you open when you want to know where the money stands. It shows what has been billed, what has been received and what is overdue. Filter it to all, overdue, due or paid, or search by a student's name, phone number or batch when a parent walks in to pay.

The institute Dashboard puts fees next to the rest of your day. Beside Students in batches, Active batches, Attendance, 30 days and Classes today, it shows Fees collected this month, Fees due and Overdue, and, if you also sell video courses online, Course sales to be paid out. You, your admins and your accountant see these fee tiles.

Recording a payment and issuing a receipt

1. Find the student in the fee book and choose Record payment.
2. Enter the amount, and under Paid by choose Cash, UPI, Bank transfer, Card, Cheque or Other.
3. Choose Save and issue receipt.
4. Use Print / Save PDF to print the receipt or save it, then hand it over or send it to the parent.

Receipts are numbered for you, in order, starting at R-00001, so nobody keeps a numbering register by hand. Each receipt shows the receipt number, the date, who it was received from, the batch, what it was towards, the mode, the amount and the balance still due.

In the Android app you record a payment the same way, and the receipt is shared as text, so you can send it to the parent straight away. For what a fee receipt should contain, and how to word receipts for instalments and part payments, see our tuition fee receipt format.

Your accountant, your team and your students

Fee work is often done by someone other than the owner, so Sikhami has roles. Add a staff member by their exact Sikhami username and choose a role; they are added at once.

• Accountant: keeps the fee book and issues receipts.
• Admin: runs batches, students, attendance and fees.
• Teacher: marks attendance for the batches they take.

Only you, the owner, see Details, Courses, Online students and Earnings. So an accountant can collect fees and issue receipts without access to your institute's settings or your online course earnings.

Students see their side too. A student you add to a batch by their Sikhami username sees their own fee status, along with their attendance percentage, under My batches. Attendance works from the same batches; our student attendance app page explains how.

What fee management software for a coaching institute should do: a checklist

Whether you choose Sikhami or something else, these are the jobs fee management software has to do well for a coaching institute or tuition centre. School software often covers them, but around a school year with fixed classes. Check that it fits how coaching actually runs.

• A fee plan for each student, not only for each class. Two students in the same batch may have different totals, concessions or joining dates.
• Instalments with due dates. Monthly instalments are normal in coaching, and the software should know when each one falls due.
• Part payments. A parent who pays half this week should get a receipt for half, with the balance shown on it.
• A clear overdue list. The main reason to use software at all is to see in seconds who has not paid, without adding up a register.
• Receipt numbers that run in order and are never typed by hand, so two receipts never share a number.
• Every payment mode you accept: cash, UPI, bank transfer, card and cheque, recorded as they happened, with the date.
• Roles. The person at the front desk should be able to record payments without changing courses, prices or settings.
• It works on a phone. Fees are often collected at the door or between classes, not at a desk.
• No cut from fees paid to you. If parents pay you in cash or by UPI, software that only records the payment should not take a share of it.
• Your records stay usable. If a parent asks about a payment months later, you should find it in a minute, and you should know who else can see students' details.
• Reminders and online collection, only if you need them. Some software sends fee reminders or lets parents pay online. Decide whether you need these, and ask what they cost.

Sikhami's fee book covers the plans, dues, numbered receipts, payment modes and roles on this list, on the website and in the Android app, and takes nothing from fees paid to you. It does not send reminders or collect batch fees online; more on that below.

Moving from a register or Excel

Switch at the start of a month, when most instalments fall due. For each student, enter what is still left to pay rather than re-entering old payments. Keep your old register or sheet for that year's records, and from the day you switch, record every payment only in the new system. Running two records side by side for long is how payments get missed.

Whatever you use, keep fees private. Share a student's dues only with that student's family, never in a batch group. If you are choosing a complete system for admissions, batches, attendance and fees, our tuition management system guide covers the rest.

How Sikhami earns, and what stays free

The fee book, fee plans, receipts, staff roles and the dashboard are free, with no subscription, along with batches, attendance and classroom courses. Fees your students pay you for batches and classroom courses never pass through Sikhami, so Sikhami takes nothing from them.

Sikhami earns only when a learner buys a paid video course online: it keeps a share of that sale, and Google Play takes its fee too when the purchase is made in the Android app.

Good to know before you start

• The fee book records fees you collect yourself. Parents cannot pay batch fees through Sikhami.
• There are no fee reminders of any kind. The fee book shows who is overdue, and our WhatsApp messages for tuition classes include polite reminders you can send yourself.
• Parents do not have their own login. Students added by username see their own fee status.
• Instalments in a fee plan are monthly.
• Students are added by hand; there is no bulk import from a spreadsheet.
• Batches, attendance, fees and your team work on the website and in the Android app.