Fee Collection, Reconciliation, and Remittance: PostbacCAS

Setting Up Fee Collection

Application Processing Fee (i.e., PostbacCAS Fee Collected by Liaison)

PostbacCAS uses a two-tier application processing fee structure: 

  • $141 for an applicant’s first designation (i.e. program) 
  • $56 for each additional designation 

As applicants add designations, the total application processing fees due are tallied and displayed on the application payment page. For example, if Aimee Applicant applies to three programs, her processing fee total is $253. This fee is collected before the applicant submits their application to your program and is retained by Liaison. 

Program Fee (i.e., School Fee)

While the application processing fee is retained by Liaison, a program can choose to collect a program fee. For example, ABC University wants to collect $75 per designation. If Aimee Applicant applies to two programs at ABC University using PostbacCAS, her program fees total $150 ($75 x 2) and her processing fees total $193 ($139 + $54), bringing her total fees due to $335. 

This fee is configured in the CAS Configuration Portal on the Program Details page. Once the program fee is configured, it's collected by Liaison before the applicant submits their application to your program, then distributed back to your school on a quarterly basis (less any applicable credit card and bank fees). See the Reporting section below for more information. 

Configuring Fees

When configuring your Program Details, use the Fee box to enter the total program fee you would like Liaison to collect on your institution's behalf (if you are not collecting a program fee, leave this field as $0): 

Fee Box 1.png

In the application, the payment page automatically tallies the application fee and the program fee and displays the correct amount to the applicant. 

Fee Collection Options

Schools can select one of the following fee collection options. If you have questions during this process or are not sure which option to select, contact a member of your account team. 

Fee Configuration Options

When do I select this option? 

What amount do I list in the Fee box? 

Reconciliation & Remittance

Option 1:

Applicant should be charged the application processing fee (no program fee).

Choose this option if you do not want to collect a program fee via the CAS application.

With this option, the applicant is responsible for paying the application processing fee. 

The Fee box should list $0. 

As applicants submit their applications, Liaison collects the application processing fee.

Note: Liaison does not provide a quarterly report with program fee remittance. 

Option 2:

Applicant should be charged both the application processing fee and the program fee.

Choose this option if you want to collect a program fee via the CAS application.

With this option, the applicant is responsible for paying both the application processing fee and the program fee. 

Assume the program fee is $40; the Fee box should list $40. 

As applicants submit their applications, Liaison collects both the application processing fee and the program fee. Program fees less bank processing fees are remitted to the school on a quarterly basis. 

Reducing and Waiving Fees

Liaison recognizes that some programs may want to reduce or waive fees for certain subsets of their applicant pool, such as alumni, in-state residents, military personnel, or special interest groups, to name a few. You can purchase application coupons directly from Liaison. To learn more about how to apply coupon codes, review the Application Coupons Reference Guide.  

Note: Liaison does not provide a quarterly report detailing application coupon redemption; however, a report can be provided upon request.

Reporting 

Reporting Schedule

This section is applicable to PostbacCAS institutions collecting Program Fees.

Quarterly reports are emailed to the primary point of contact according to the schedule below. Once the report is approved by the point of contact, Liaison will process any payments via check or ACH (depending on how the primary point of contact sets up reconciliation). Payment-related questions can be sent to billing@liaisonedu.com. 

Calendar Quarter Covered

Quarter End Date

Report Issued By

Payment

January 1–March 31

March 31

May 30

 Payment initiated within 10 business days of receipt of approval from institution.

April 1–June 30

June 30

August 29

 Payment initiated within 10 business days of receipt of approval from institution.

July 1–September 30

September 30

November 29

 Payment initiated within 10 business days of receipt of approval from institution.

October 1–December 31

December 31

February 28

 Payment initiated within 10 business days of receipt of approval from institution.

Overview of Quarterly Report

The quarterly report is delivered via an Excel workbook that provides detailed transaction information and program fee calculations. 

Chareback.png

Transaction Detail 

The most pertinent transaction detail columns in the report include: 

  • Applicant Name: the applicant's name. 
  • CAS Id: the applicant's CAS ID number. 
  • Number of Records: each line in the report provides the transaction detail for a single designation. The sum of this column represents the cumulative number of designations that have been processed in a cycle. Note that the sum of all designations is not the same as the Applicant Count because a single applicant can submit multiple designations. 
  • Primary Fee: the application processing fee.
  • Program Fee: the fee for the program the applicant is applying to. 
  • Program Name: the name of the program the applicant is applying to. 
  • Summable Transaction Amount: the amount Liaison collected (on behalf of the program) from the applicant upon application submission. 
  • Transaction Date: the date the summable transaction amount was collected (i.e., the date the application was submitted). 
  • CC Fees: the credit card fee that was charged for the transaction. This fee is applicable to only the program fee portion of the transaction. Liaison calculates an average percentage for credit card fees assessed. For example, if Liaison pays a total of $14,000 in PostbacCAS credit card processing fees on $652,000 worth of PostbacCAS payments for the month of December, the averaged rate for that month will be 2.14% ($14,000/$652,000). The 2.14% will be applied to each program fee payment received in that month. 
    • Note that Liaison is charged approximately $20 for any disputes/chargebacks filed by applicants. These fees are not averaged across the CAS and are instead applied only to the institution to which the applicant’s original payment was made.  
Program Fee Calculations

The Total Application Fees Due = Applicant Count x Program Fee. Deducted from this total are the following: 

  • Credit Card Fees: the sum of the CC Fees column.
  • Chargebacks & Refunds: detailed at the bottom of the report. Notice in the example above that as a result of a chargeback, the:
    • Credit card fees increased by $20. 
    • Net amount owed to the institution was reduced by both the $35 chargeback and the additional $20 chargeback credit card fee. 
  • Application Fees Paid: any payments previously made to your institution for the current cycle.