January's Power Hour was all about getting ready for the busy spring semester. The team, led by Senior Account Manager, Anthony Piazza, and MSB Activities expert, Ed Joiner, shared valuable insights on streamlining payments for spring fees and events. From AP exams to in-person payments, they covered a wide range of tools to help your district prepare. We've gathered the key takeaways below, and you can watch the full replay here.
Gearing Up for Spring Collections (02:20)
The spring semester brings a rush of student-related payments. Anthony emphasized that now is the perfect time to start setting up items in your store. By setting up fees for senior dues, prom, AP exams, and athletics early, you can simply enable them when the time comes, ensuring a smooth and stress-free collection process for your staff and parents.
Here are some of the key items districts are preparing for now:
- Senior Dues & Graduation: Cap and gown fees, senior trips, and other graduation-related expenses.
- Events: Prom tickets, spring dances, and other school-sponsored events.
- Academics: AP exams, technology insurance, and class dues.
- Extracurriculars: Athletics, club fees, and other after-school activities.
Click the links to learn more about School Store, Student Invoicing, Ticketing & Event Management, and School Program Management.
Taking Payments Anywhere with MSB Anywhere (10:00)
One of the highlights of the presentation was the MSB Anywhere platform, which allows you to take in-person payments for anything, anywhere on campus. With a simple card reader that connects to an iPad via Bluetooth, you can transform any location into a point-of-sale terminal.
Here's what makes MSB Anywhere so powerful:
- Flexible Payment Options: Accept all major payment types, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, credit/debit cards, cash, and checks.
- Invoice Payments: Parents can pay outstanding invoices on the spot, making it easier to collect on obligations.
- Centralized Reporting: All in-person and online payments are tracked in one place for easy reconciliation.
Managing Before & After Care, Summer Camps, and More with MSB Activities (16:13)
Ed Joiner provided an overview of MSB Activities, an advanced registration platform designed for programs that require more than just a simple payment. It's the perfect solution for before & after care, summer camps, and athletic registrations.
MSB Activities is built on four core pillars:
- Advanced Registration: Create detailed registration forms to capture all the information you need.
- Automatic Billing: Set up recurring invoices for ongoing programs.
- Attendance Tracking: Easily track student check-ins and check-outs.
- Robust Reporting: Get detailed insights into your program enrollment and financials.
Streamlining AP Exam Registration & Invoicing (26:00)
As a preferred payment provider of the College Board, MySchoolBucks offers a robust solution for managing AP exams. Anthony walked through a powerful hybrid model that simplifies the entire process from registration to payment collection using a zero-dollar registration product and smart invoicing.
This section sparked a lot of great questions from the audience about creating student groups, managing invoices after they've been sent, and what parents can see. Here's a summary of the key functionalities discussed:
- Smart Invoicing: The system is smart enough to recognize which students in a group have already been invoiced, preventing duplicate charges if new students are added later.
- Student Group Management: You can create student groups manually or by importing a CSV file, making it easy to invoice specific segments of your student population.
- Invoice Adjustments: Using the Invoicing Cashier feature, you can waive or delete an invoice if a student has already paid through another system. You can also record partial payments.
- Parent Visibility: Parents can view a complete history of their payments, including any cash or check payments recorded by staff, in their order history and on the Student Statement of Account.
Related Knowledge Articles:
Wrap-Up
The webinar wrapped up with a reminder about the upcoming Connect 2026 conference, our annual training event. It's a fantastic opportunity to get hands-on training, learn best practices, and connect with your peers from across the country.
Watch the full webinar below to see these features in action and learn how to make your spring semester the smoothest one yet!
