Student Refunds

About Student Refunds

If a student's financial aid exceeds his or her charges - or if the student overpays - the student may be entitled to a refund. The refunded amount issued to the student appears on the student's ledger and is typically provided to the student as a physical check or electronic funds transfer (EFT). 

Record Single Student Refund

This method applies a refund to a single student's ledger and is intended for institutions that issue the refund through an accounting system separate from Campus Cafe.

1. Navigate to the student

2. Navigate to main menu > Person Selected > A/R Ledger Card

3. Click Add Bill Batch

4. In the Transaction Code box select the transaction code associated with student refunds

5. In the Billing Semester select the semester to which to apply the refund

6. In the Billing Description optionally enter text to associate with the refund

7. In the Billing Amount enter the refund amount as a positive number (e.g. 500) Do not include a dollar sign or comma

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8. Click Save

9. Post the bill batch for the transaction to be reflected on the student ledger; the refund will deduct the semester and overall balance by the refund amount.

Record Student Refunds from Uploaded Spreadsheet

This method permits a list of refunds included in a spreadsheet to be uploaded to Campus Cafe for processing. 

Prepare the File

1. Using Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets or another spreadsheet software, create a a spreadsheet that must contain the following columns in order: ID_NUMBER, AMOUNT, CHECK_OR_EFT, SEMESTER and TRANSACTION CODE. Save the file in .xlsx, .xls or .csv format. A sample template is attached to this article.
   ID_NUMBER: The student's Campus Cafe ID number. Required.
   AMOUNT: The numeric value of the refund. (Do not include a dollar sign ($) or a comma). Two positions after the decimal are supported. Required.
   CHECK_OR_EFT: Enter either "Check" or "EFT" (without the quotes). A refund marked as a check will be transferred to the Campus Cafe Accounts Payable module for issuance of an actual check. This method assumes the institution utilizes the Campus Cafe general ledger module. Institutions not using the Campus Cafe accounts payable module should not use Check. A refund marked as EFT will enter the bill batch for posting. Although marked as EFT, the refund could be issued using any form of payment initiated and recorded outside of Campus Cafe. Required.
   SEMESTER: The numeric code associated with a Campus Cafe semester in which to apply the refund (e.g. 202110). Optional, if not entered will use the semester defined on the screen.
   TRANSACTION_CODE: The transaction code to associate with the payment (e.g. STDNTREFUND). Optional, if not entered will use the semester defined on the screen.

2. Each row should contain a single refund transaction. The same student may have multiple transactions in the same file.

3. Save the file to your computer

Upload the File

Permission #816 is required to access this function

1. Navigate to Student Financials > Student Refund Batch

2. In the Billing Semester choose the semester to which to apply the refund. The system will use this semester if one is not specified in the file.

3. In the Transaction code choose the transaction code to associate with the refund. The system will use this transaction code if one is not specified in the file.

4. Click Browse

5. Locate the file you created earlier

6. Click Process; refunds marked as check will be transferred to the Accounts Payable module. Refunds marked as EFT will be transferred to bill batch.
   Rows with invalid information (e.g. a non-existent ID number or transaction code) will appear with an error and the row number of the invalid transaction. Note that the row number does not count the header row. For example, if Campus Cafe returns an error on row 25, it is the transaction that appears on your spreadsheet is in row 26.

Process Check Refunds

For institutions using the Campus Cafe general ledger module, refunds marked as check are sent to the Campus Cafe Accounts Payable module. If a vendor does not exist, one will be created using the student name and students home address. The Vendor address can be automatically updated when the student address changes by utilizing Custom Control AP_ADDRESS_STU_VEND, Sequence 1, Parameter 1 which specifies which student address will update the vendor address.

Values of HOM for home, BILL for billing and LOC for local, allows the user to specify which address when changed updates the vendor address. If this parameter is blank, no updating of the student vendor address will occur when the student’s address is updated.

Student Vendors are identified by having the vendor EIN or SSN equal the students Social Security Number. Refunds uploaded via a spreadsheet appear in the voucher batch of the uploading user (first 10 characters of their username).

Post the refunds to student ledgers

1. Log in to the client

2. Click Accounting

3. Click Accounts Payable Module

4. Click Voucher Maintenance Screen

5. In the bottom left for the Member select the batch matching the first 10 characters of the uploading user's username.

6. Click Change Batch

7. Click To Batch

8. The batch with the individual refunds will appear as a list.

9. Click Update/Clear Batch

10. Enter the Posting Date, which will show as the transaction date on the student's ledger.

11. Enter a batch name (any text)

12. Click OK

13. The refunds will be applied to the students' ledgers.

Process EFT Refunds

Refunds marked as EFTs do not actually need to be processed as electronic funds transfers (EFTs). Refunds marked as EFTs are transferred to bill batch for posting and issuance using any payment system recorded in an accounts payable system outside of Campus Cafe. Within bill batch, the total amount of the EFT refunds appears next to EFT Batches.

Student Refund Batch Template

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