FACTS Update

In a recent Director’s Corner you were informed that beginning in 2010-2011, those families who meet their tuition obligations via automatic ACH withdrawal via FACTS would be assessed the $41 participation fee. Since contracting this service to FACTS for the 2005-2006 academic year, this fee has been absorbed by OCS and passed onto all families as a part of the operational budget. Please note the following:

• In building the 2010-2011 OCS Budget, the Finance Committee worked diligently to minimize the impact of a tuition increase on our families. Every line in the budget was examined and evaluated. By passing the cost of FACTS to the users, the potential increase for all was cut by a .5%. To be honest, there were many tough decisions prayerfully approached with a sense of stewardship.

• FACTS has been a valuable partner over these past 6 years. The ACH payments have allowed our families to efficiently manage and budget their tuition payment obligation into automatic payments, in most cases stretched over 12 months. On the OCS side, these automatic payments have helped us better manage cash flow through the year and simply and appropriately track payments through an interface between FACTS and our billing software.

• FACTS is upgrading for 2010-2011 and we are going to advantage of it. Families will have greater access to FACTS via a secure website. Each family will be provided a username and password. For 2010-2011, we will ask all families to go on-line and set-up their payment schedule. We have requested additional information from FACTS about this and will provide it to all families later in the spring.

• The OCS tuition policy requires that a families’ tuition obligation be met via the following ways: full payment prior to registration (less a 3% discount; monthly, quarterly, semi-annual ach payments via FACTS, or credit card payments to OCS.