Everything you've set up comes together on the family's screen. When you send a tuition plan, the guardian gets a link that opens their own checkout — no Lazarus account required. Knowing what they see helps you set expectations, answer questions, and troubleshoot when a family gets stuck. This guide walks through the guardian's side.
When you send a tuition plan, the guardian receives the Billing Link Email with a secure link to their checkout. The link is unique to that family and their plan, so they land directly on their own bill without signing in. (You control the wording of this email under Billing → Email Settings.)
If a link ever expires, the family can be sent a fresh one — the plan can be resent, and certain notices automatically include a renewed link — so an expired link is never a dead end.
The checkout shows the family their tuition — the students on the plan and the total — and presents the payment plans you built as options. The family picks the one that suits them: paying in full, monthly, quarterly, or across your custom phases. As they choose, they see what each option means for them — the amount per payment and how often — so they can pick with the numbers in front of them. If a plan carries an early-payment discount and they're within the deadline, that reduction is reflected in what they'd pay.
Next the family chooses a payment method:
If your school passes on processing fees, the family sees the card and bank amounts side by side, including the fee, so the choice — and its cost — is clear. Bank transfer usually carries a lower fee than card, which many families factor in.
For a recurring plan, the family can set up autopay, saving their payment method so each installment is charged automatically as it comes due. That's the smoothest path for everyone: they don't have to remember, and you don't have to chase.
Not every plan is set up for automatic card or bank payment. Some families pay by invoice instead — they receive each charge as an invoice and pay it when it arrives, rather than having a method saved for automatic billing. The checkout supports this path too, and it's the natural fit for families paying by methods that aren't auto-charged.
When you raise a one-off invoice — a supplies fee, a trip — the guardian receives it and can pay it online through a secure payment page, entering their card or bank details. It's the same trusted payment experience as the tuition checkout, just for a single charge.
If a family's card expires or they switch banks, they don't need to start over. Guardians on an autopay plan have an update payment method page where they can replace their saved card or bank details, and future payments use the new method. Lazarus also points families there automatically when a payment fails, so a lapsed card is easy for them to fix themselves.
Tip: When a family says a payment didn't go through, the cause is usually an expired or changed card. Pointing them to update their payment method — via the link in their payment-failed notice, or by resending their plan — resolves most of these without any change on your end.
Card and bank payments run through Stripe, a widely used and secure payment processor, and the family enters their details directly into that secure form. Lazarus doesn't store raw card numbers, which is worth reassuring families about if they ask whether it's safe to pay online.
That completes the tuition and billing series. You've now seen the whole arc: setting rates, discounts, and payment plans; assigning and sending tuition plans; collecting installments and invoices; handling offline payments, late fees, and refunds; reading your dashboard; and what families experience when they pay. With these in place, your school can price, bill, and collect tuition end to end in Lazarus.