Bookmark this page for quick answers and reference tables about scheduled billing. Use it to find the right tool for your situation and understand how charges, statuses, and timing work.
Common questions
Why hasn't my charge posted yet? It's past the scheduled date.
Charges post in an automated sweep that runs every six hours, so a charge can post up to six hours after its scheduled time. This is expected. To post one immediately, open the occurrence's row menu (⋯) and select Execute.
Can I pause a schedule?
No. A schedule's lifecycle is Active → Ended, with no pause, resume, or cancel. To stop billing one student temporarily, skip their upcoming occurrences; to stop billing them permanently, cancel their assignment.
Why can't I edit the schedule's amount or frequency?
Billing terms are locked once a schedule is created — only the Schedule Name and Description are editable. If you need different terms, use Copy Schedule to start a new schedule and assign residents to that.
Why is End Schedule unavailable?
A schedule can only be ended when no residents are assigned and no pending occurrences remain. Resolve those first.
Why can't I assign a student to a schedule?
They're probably already on it — a student can only be assigned to the same schedule once, and the system shows "Profile is already assigned to this schedule."
What's the difference between Transaction and Fee Payment schedules?
Transaction (Ledger Charge) schedules post charges to the student's ledger and sync to your SIS. Fee Payment (Payment Gateway) schedules are processed through your school's third-party payment processor — an integration typically set up during onboarding. If you're unsure whether your school has it, contact Housing Cloud Support.
Do students see their billing schedule in the Student Portal?
Not currently — scheduled billing is admin-facing. Students encounter the individual charges as they post to their account, not the schedule itself.
Where did my old schedules go?
Ended schedules are hidden by default. Enable Show Completed Billing Schedules at the top of the Billing Schedules tab.
What does a charge look like on the ledger?
A normal transaction with the schedule's charge code and cycle, issued at posting time. Completed occurrences link directly to it via TXN #, and credits appear as negative amounts.
A charge shows Failed. Now what?
Failures usually trace to fee payment generation or the third-party payment processor. See Troubleshoot Failed Scheduled Billing for the full checklist, then re-run the charge with Execute.
Which tool do I use?
Several controls can stop or change billing, and a couple of them can't be undone. Find your situation here before you click.
There is no pause button. For a temporary stop, such as a break period, skip the affected occurrences instead.
I need to... | Use this | Where | Undoable? |
|---|---|---|---|
Stop billing one student permanently (moved out, plan changed) | Cancel Assignment | Schedule page > their row > Actions | No — but already-posted charges stay on the ledger |
Waive a single charge for one student | Skip | Their occurrence row (⋯) | No |
Charge a different amount on one date | Modify | Their occurrence row (⋯) | Yes — modify again |
Post a charge today instead of waiting | Execute | Their occurrence row (⋯) | No — the charge posts immediately |
Give a student money off their plan overall | Apply Credit | Their assignment page | No — posts a credit transaction |
Bill one student a different total from the start | Total For This Profile override | Assign Profile modal | Set at assignment time |
Fix wrong billing terms (amount, frequency, dates) | Copy Schedule, then retire the old one | Schedule > Actions | Terms are locked after creation — copying is the fix |
Retire a plan entirely | Cancel each assignment, then End Schedule | Schedule > Actions | No — ended schedules can't be resumed |
Fix a typo in the schedule name | Edit Schedule | Schedule > Actions | Yes |
For detailed steps, see Assign a Billing Schedule to a Student, Manage Scheduled Billing Occurrences, Apply a credit to a scheduled billing assignment, and Copy, Edit, and End a Billing Schedule.
How the money works
The total divides across occurrences. A $300 schedule with 12 monthly occurrences bills $25 each. Uneven totals divide too: $350 over 3 occurrences is $116.67 each.
Skipping counts as resolved. Skip a $25 charge and the student's remaining balance drops by $25 — the system treats it as settled, not postponed. It is never re-billed.
Credits reduce the balance and reshape future charges. A $5 credit drops the remaining balance by $5, and the wizard lets you choose which upcoming charges shrink to absorb it.
Wizard cancellations are removed, not paid. Cancelling four $25 charges in the Apply Credit wizard removes $100 of future billing from the plan. Those charges are not "paid by" the credit and don't consume it — they simply disappear (shown as Skipped on the timeline).
Overrides scale the installments. If the schedule is $300 but you assign a student at $360, their 12 occurrences are $30 each.
Statuses at a glance
Level | Statuses |
|---|---|
Schedule | Active (running) → Ended (finished or ended manually; read-only) |
Assignment | Active (billing) or Cancelled (no further billing; balance $0) |
Occurrence | Pending (waiting) → Processing (posting) → Completed (posted, linked to TXN) — or Failed (error), Skipped (waived by an admin or removed by a credit), Cancelled (assignment was cancelled) |
When things happen
Event | When |
|---|---|
Schedule becomes Active | Immediately on creation |
Upcoming charges are generated | Daily at 3:00 AM UTC |
Due charges post to accounts | Every 6 hours — up to a 6-hour delay after the scheduled time is normal |
Execute / Skip / Modify / Apply Credit | Immediately |
Transaction syncs to your SIS | After posting (shows "Pending Create" until synced) |
Glossary
Billing schedule — the plan: what to charge, how much in total, how often, and for how long.
Assignment — one student's enrollment in a plan, with their own total and balance.
Occurrence — one individual charge generated by the plan, with its own date and status.
Round — all occurrences across students that bill on the same date (what the calendar shows).
Cycle — the housing application cycle (e.g., Summer 2026) that charges are tagged to.
Accounting mechanism — how the charge posts: Transaction (Ledger Charge) or Fee Payment (Payment Gateway).
Charge code / Fee type — the finance category attached to each posted charge, configured in your finance settings.