The Qualy’s platform—created by former EducationLink founder and product specialist at ApplyBoard and then Edvisor, Raphael Arias—allows schoolsend digital payment reminders, collect payments and send commissions to agents in real time.
While many software systems and portals help students and colleges manage enrollment, students are “often confused about the best payment method and pushed and pulled by both the school and the agency to pay them directly.” Arias stated the reason for starting the company.
Previously, receiving payments from students was mostly a task for an expensive back-office team to complete the process manually, Well maintained.
Without sharing live data between schools and agencies, students were routinely hounded for payment by one party when they had already paid the other party, who had not informed their partner.
“It created an even worse student experience,” Arias told The PIE.
Qualy hopes to help schools and agencies save time on administrative work.
The company also noted that payment transparency and security is particularly required “with the increasing use of sub-agents and the potential pitfalls and perils of the practice’.
Since students are not always aware of whether their agent works directly with the college or if they are using a sub-agent, the money paid “can become a risk because it is not billed by the school or the main agent”.
The platform also makes it clear to schools whether a commission is due or not and simplifies the practice of sending net payments, where agents withhold their commission and send the remaining amount to the college, which Qualy says is “prone to errors and difficult to reconcile in accounting. software”.
The payment module provides students with a variety of payment methods and can automatically split payments and transfer funds to the school and agency.
It charges a small fee for each transaction and a monthly fee to access the platform.
Since its launch, Qualy has partnered with select schools and agencies, allowing the company to get feedback and add features.
“This solution will give schools and agencies the opportunity to work more productively on their relationships”
“We are currently receiving expressions of interest from multiple schools and agencies that want to start using the platform. Additionally, we are in discussions with existing student management systems and agency systems that want to provide more value to their existing users,” explained Arias.
An FX solution designed to support student payments and school and agency payouts in any currency will be launched soon.
“We know that in addition to payment transparency, this solution will give schools and agencies the opportunity to work more productively on their relationships,” Arias told The PIE.
“Instead of spending so much time chasing payments and invoices, our users can now spend that time planning new strategies to grow their organizations together. And most importantly, to give students an even better and more personal experience, they are the only reason we are all here.”
