> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://educontroldoc.pixelspectivetech.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Recording a payment

> Taking money at the front desk — finding the pupil, choosing the channel, and issuing the receipt.

This is the busiest screen in the system, and it is built for a queue: find the pupil, take the money, print the receipt.

## Finding the pupil

Search by name, admission number, or the fee payer's phone number. The phone search is the fastest route when a parent arrives without the admission number, which is most of the time.

## Payment channels

| Channel           | Recorded with                 |
| ----------------- | ----------------------------- |
| **Cash**          | Amount only                   |
| **MTN MoMo**      | Transaction reference         |
| **Telecel MoMo**  | Transaction reference         |
| **AT Money**      | Transaction reference         |
| **Bank Transfer** | Deposit or transfer reference |
| **Cheque**        | Cheque number and bank        |

<Tip>
  Always key the reference for a MoMo or bank payment. It is what lets you match your records to the statement at the end of the day, and it is the only way to resolve a parent who says they paid when your figures say otherwise.
</Tip>

<Note>
  These channels record money that has **already** arrived — cash across the counter, a MoMo transfer the parent shows you, a deposit slip. EduControl does not take payments online: there is no checkout for parents, and no automatic confirmation from MoMo. Every payment is entered by a member of staff.
</Note>

## Directing a payment

You can point a payment at what it is for — tuition, or feeding, or a specific fee item — or leave it undirected and let it settle the oldest debt first.

Directing matters when a family is paying for something specific. A parent paying for meals wants that money on the feeding invoice, not absorbed by a tuition arrear from last term. See [Allocation](/docs/payments/allocation).

## The receipt

A receipt is issued and numbered from your school's receipt sequence, and it itemises what the money was applied to rather than showing a bare total. Print it or hand it over — parents keep these, and an itemised receipt prevents most later disputes.

<Note>
  Receipts are printed from the browser. There is no SMS or emailed receipt.
</Note>

## Paying more than is owed

Overpayment is allowed, and the excess is held as the pupil's credit. It is applied automatically against their next invoice — see [Allocation](/docs/payments/allocation). Nothing is lost and nothing needs remembering.

## Getting it wrong

A payment recorded in error is **voided**, not deleted or edited. Voiding unwinds the allocations it made and leaves the correction on the record. See [Corrections](/docs/payments/corrections).

## Who can do this

The `record_payments` permission.