The ins and outs of paying for student travel

If there’s one thing that has the potential to make directors crazy – whether they’re considering their first trip or planning their fifth – it’s money. And we’re not talking about the cost of the trip. We’re talking about logistics. Who collects the money. When to collect the money. How to organize the money. Who still owes money. So today, we’re going to dismantle some of the common concerns around money management and explain how we’ve simplified the money side of student travel.

Trip money management – the challenges

When it comes to managing the finances for a student travel experience, there are some common concerns that directors have about how the process works:

Sounds like a lot of paperwork

How do I track who’s paid and who hasn’t?

I don’t want to be the bad guy when students haven’t paid

What if I lose the money along the way?

Unfortunately, if you’re planning a trip on your own, those are all very legitimate concerns. Managing the money on your own does mean a lot of paperwork and payments to track/chase down. It can be time consuming, complicated and a frustrating use of your time as an educator. That’s why working with a travel planner can save you so much heartache, far beyond travel logistics.

Our solution

Our BRT clients don’t have to worry about money management. Our Individual Payment System, or IPS, does away with all of those concerns and allows our clients to focus solely on their students, the music and their upcoming performances. Here’s how it works:

Each of our travel clients has their own account within our IPS where both the director and individual student families can login. For families, this means they can easily see how much they owe for their student and enter their payment information securely. Once they’ve created that initial payment, the system emails the families in advance of each upcoming payment and then takes the payments when they’re due. If a family needs extra time to make a payment, that’s never a problem – we work with them on the director’s behalf – no late fees necessary.

The directors that work with us never actually touch the “trip money” – they can simply login to the system and quickly see which students have paid and which ones haven’t. They never have to “hunt down” students who are late to pay, that’s our job. The IPS also allows directors to send emails to the entire group, which is a great tool when sending out fundraising updates. As fundraising money comes in, it can be easily applied to student accounts as well.

Having a system that takes the burden of managing trip finances off our clients is just one way we make travel planning simple. If we can help your group understand the process or take that first step in planning a student travel experience, please let us know. Or if you’ve stumbled on this post because paying for student travel seems daunting, contact us for our complimentary planning guide loaded with fundraising tips that can give you the fresh ideas and insight you need.