--- title: Your to-do list to getting ahead for back-to-school description: As you get ready for the 2024-2025 school year, take a look at a few tips that will help you prepare along the way with MySchoolBucks. image: https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/hubfs/back%20to%20school%20header.png --- - Help - [FAQ](https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/help/gethelp) - [How-To Videos](https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/help/gethelpvideos) - [Contact Us](https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/etc/getcontacts) [![MSB-Logo-2022-200x106](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/hs-fs/hubfs/LP_Images/MSB/Marketing%20Central/MySchoolBucks/Meals/MSB-Logo-2022-200x106.png?width=116&name=MSB-Logo-2022-200x106.png)](https://www.myschoolbucks.com) - [Home](https://info.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-resource-central) - Communication Tools - [Meal Payments](https://info.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/mc-msb-meals) - [School Store](https://info.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/mc-msb-store) - [MSB Activities](https://info.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/mc-msb-activities) - Learn & Grow - [Tutorials](https://info.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-learning-center) - [Power Hours](https://info.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/current-power-hour-schedule) - [Power Ups](https://info.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-power-ups-2026) - [Training Services](https://info.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-training-services) - [Spotlight Blog](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight) - Support - [Support Central](https://info.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/support-central) - [Contact Us](https://info.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/support-central#help) - [Log In](https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/login/getlogin) [![MySchoolBucks](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/hubfs/MySchoolBucks-June2017/Images/msb_logo.png)](https://www.myschoolbucks.com) - [Home](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/review-this-to-do-list-while-planning-for-back-to-school#home) - [Communication Tools](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/review-this-to-do-list-while-planning-for-back-to-school#news) - [Spotlight Blog](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/review-this-to-do-list-while-planning-for-back-to-school#contact) - [Log In](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/review-this-to-do-list-while-planning-for-back-to-school#about) # MySchoolBucks Spotlight # Spotlight | Grow with MySchoolBucks # Your to-do list to getting ahead for back-to-school Posted by [Emily Schoeneck](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/author/emily-schoeneck) on Jun 27, 2024 11:00:00 AM ![](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/hs-fs/hubfs/back%20to%20school%20header.png?width=750&height=325&name=back%20to%20school%20header.png) As one school year ends, it’s time to get ready for another to begin! As you continue to plan for the back-to-school season, there are a few things within [MySchoolBucks](https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/getmain?requestAction=home) you may want to check in on and make sure are up to date and ready to go before the fall rolls around. Here’s a few things to review while planning for the year ahead: Prepare for school fees It's important to consider the various school fees that will come into effect as soon as the school year kicks off. These could include course fees, AP exam fees, textbook rental costs, and other related expenses. Make a list of all the student fees your school collects to get prepared for collecting payments in MySchoolBucks. Align with other departments to ensure you cover all types of fees. Parents will appreciate the convenience of being able to pay all student fees in one place. Oftentimes these fees can paid before the school year even begins, so you can expedite the collection process and help parents get ahead for the first day. Utilize student invoicing After you've organized all your fees, you can decide which fees would be best to streamline collection with [our invoicing feature](https://www.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/en/payment-solutions/student-invoicing) . For fees that are required or are applied to groups of students, invoicing is an optimal way to notify families when fees are due and encourage payment by a specific date. The system will assist you by automatically tracking who has paid and who still has outstanding fees. As the school year goes on, you'll easily be able to send reminder emails, saving you time on having to track down individuals who haven’t paid yet. Learn more about how you can streamline fee collection with invoicing. [Read more >](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/power-hour-recap-streamlining-fee-collection-with-student-invoicing) Audit your School Store Remember to check that your [MySchoolBucks stores](https://www.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/en/payment-solutions/school-store) are up-to-date and accurate before the first day of school! Review the items that are still listed there and remove any old or unnecessary products. You can then add new Store items that are relevant for the 2024-25 school year. Don’t forget to confirm that your stores are connected to the correct bank accounts for simpler management and tracking, too. Check out this knowledge article to learn more about adding and managing Store products. [**Read Article >**](https://help.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/s/article/MySchoolBucks-Add-Product)   Train new staff Check in with your team to ensure they feel confident and knowledgeable of MySchoolBucks. New admins, bookkeepers, and staff members will need to get up to speed on how to use the MySchoolBucks platform. Be sure to check out [Support Central](https://info.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/support-central) for knowledge articles and the [MySchoolBucks training library](https://info.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-learning-center) for helpful how-to videos. Whether they're new or need a refresher, these are great resources for your start of school staffing plan. Plan for fall events With the start of school comes the busy fall season. Fall sports are back in action, along with many other back-to-school events. You’ll want to have a system in place that can help you manage these events, like ticketing, to make it easy for students and their families to attend. With [MSB Tickets](https://www.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/en/payment-solutions/ticketing), guests can easily purchase tickets right from their phone, pick their seats, and more. On the admin side, you will have the ability to track ticket sales and manage them all from within MySchoolBucks. Check out the 5 ways MSB Tickets can help you better manage your events next year. [Read More >](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/5-ways-msb-tickets-can-help-you-prepare-for-events-next-school-year)   Review MSB communication tools Don't forget to utilize our free MySchoolBucks [digital communication tools](https://info.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/mc-msb-store). There are materials and templates to promote how parents can pay online for meal payments, through your School Store, or with [MSB Activities](https://www.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/en/payment-solutions/msb-activities). You can download banners for your school's website, and include buttons to easily direct parents to MySchoolBucks. There's other resources like email templates, social posts, downloadable logos, and much more.  Learn what’s new It’s always a good idea to stay current with the new features offered within MySchoolBucks. Did you know that you can now use tap to pay with MySchoolBucks? Something that is sure to make payments easier, whether it’s in the cafeteria, or at the concession stands, or even in the classroom. You can now offer Apple Pay or Google Pay as well. There’s also a new invoicing feature that will make it possible to send invoice reminder emails to non-users of MySchoolBucks, so even if they don’t have an account you can still get in touch to ensure their outstanding fees get paid.  Don't forget to [review our end of year checklist](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/take-a-look-at-this-end-of-year-checklist-with-myschoolbucks) to help ensure everything is closed from the previous year, like updating bank account information and rolling over your student data. As always, [reach out to your account manager](https://info.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-lp-contact-am) if you have questions, need help, or want to check out something new within MySchoolBucks. Topics: [MySchoolBucks](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/topic/myschoolbucks), [back to school](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/topic/back-to-school) [![Use our free tools to remind parents to pay online](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/hubfs/msb-comm-tools-blog-sidenav-cta-spotlight.png "Use our free tools to remind parents to pay online")](https://info.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-resource-central#tools) ### Recent Articles ### Articles by Topic - [MySchoolBucks (51)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/myschoolbucks) - [New Features and Enhancements (33)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/new-features-and-enhancements) - [School Store (26)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/school-store) - [Webinar (24)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/webinar) - [How to (19)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/how-to) - [invoicing (15)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/invoicing) - [School Payments (13)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/school-payments) - [back to school (13)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/back-to-school) - [Conferences (12)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/conferences) - [Power Hour (12)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/power-hour) - [Resource Central (12)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/resource-central) - [Integrations (11)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/integrations) - [Training (11)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/training) - [Connect (10)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/connect) - [MSB Tickets (10)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/msb-tickets) - [New Features (10)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/new-features) - [Partnerships (10)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/partnerships) - [Webinars (10)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/webinars) - [MSB Activities (8)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/msb-activities) - [New Release (7)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/new-release) - [MySchoolBucks App (4)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/myschoolbucks-app) - [Cashless Campus (3)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/cashless-campus) - [Communications (3)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/communications) - [Contactless Payments (3)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/contactless-payments) - [Free communication tools (3)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/free-communication-tools) - [PowerSchool (3)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/powerschool) - [ap exams (3)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/ap-exams) - [free downloads (3)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/free-downloads) - [Activities (2)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/activities) - [Afterschool Programs (2)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/afterschool-programs) - [Customer Testimonial (2)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/customer-testimonial) - [Meet the School Store Account Management Team (2)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/meet-the-school-store-account-management-team) - [Parent Newsletters (2)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/parent-newsletters) - [Technical Account Manager (2)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/technical-account-manager) - [Donations (1)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/donations) - [EPES Software (1)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/epes-software) - [End of year (1)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/end-of-year) - [Genesis SIS (1)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/genesis-sis) - [GiftCrowd (1)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/giftcrowd) - [MSB Accounting (1)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/msb-accounting) - [School Fundraising (1)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/school-fundraising) - [School Lunch (1)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/school-lunch) - [Social Media (1)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/social-media) - [Support central (1)](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb-spotlight/tag/support-central) See All » ### Have an idea for a future article? 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