Payments & Wallets — including Flutterwave and Paystack integration and the Student Wallet feature — are available on the Operations plan and above. Schools on the Core plan can record manual payments but cannot accept online payments or use digital wallets.
Configuring Your Payment Gateway
Before parents can pay online, a school administrator must connect at least one payment gateway. Edustream supports Flutterwave and Paystack natively.Open Payment Settings
In the left navigation, go to Settings → Payments. The Payment Gateway panel lists the available providers.
Select a gateway
Click Configure next to either Flutterwave or Paystack — or both, if your school wants to offer parents a choice. You can have both gateways active simultaneously.
Enter your API credentials
Log in to your Flutterwave or Paystack dashboard and locate your API keys. In Edustream, paste the following:
| Field | Where to find it |
|---|---|
| Public Key | Flutterwave → Settings → API; Paystack → Settings → API Keys & Webhooks |
| Secret Key | Same location as above — keep this confidential. |
| Webhook URL | Copy the URL displayed in Edustream and paste it into your gateway’s webhook settings. |
Set the webhook in your gateway dashboard
Navigate to the webhook settings in your Flutterwave or Paystack dashboard and paste the Edustream-provided Webhook URL. This allows the gateway to notify Edustream instantly when a payment is completed, so invoices and receipts update in real time.
Test the connection
Click Test Connection in Edustream. The system sends a test ping to the gateway and confirms whether the credentials are valid. A green Connected badge means you are ready to go live.
How Parents Pay Online
Once a gateway is active, parents can pay outstanding invoices from their own portal without visiting the school.Parent logs into the portal
The parent navigates to your school’s Edustream parent portal URL and signs in with their credentials. The Dashboard shows a summary of outstanding invoices for all their children enrolled at the school.
Select the invoice to pay
The parent clicks View Invoices for the relevant child. The invoice list shows each fee item, the total amount, any partial payments already made, and the remaining balance due.
Choose a payment method
The parent clicks Pay Now on the invoice. A payment modal opens with two options:
- Card Payment
- Bank Transfer
The parent enters their debit or credit card number, expiry date, and CVV. The transaction is processed securely through the configured gateway. 3D Secure authentication is triggered automatically where required by the issuing bank.
Parents can make partial payments online. If the invoice total is ₦50,000 and the parent pays ₦25,000, the invoice status updates to Partially Paid and the remaining ₦25,000 balance stays visible on their portal. They can return later to pay the remainder.
Digital Student Wallets
Every student in Edustream has a digital wallet. The wallet functions as a prepaid balance that parents load in advance; school staff deduct from it at point of sale for approved spending categories — canteen, the uniform shop, the library, or other ancillary charges approved by your school.Topping Up a Wallet
Navigate to the wallet top-up screen
The parent logs into the parent portal and clicks Wallet in the top navigation bar. The wallet screen displays the student’s current balance and a full transaction history.
Enter the top-up amount
Click Top Up Wallet, enter the amount to add, and click Proceed to Payment. The same gateway payment modal used for invoice payments opens. The parent completes the transaction by card or bank transfer.
Using Wallet Funds
Wallet funds are spent at school through staff-initiated deductions, not by the parent directly. Below are the approved spending categories and how each works:Canteen
Canteen staff open Finance → Wallet → Canteen Deduction, search for the student, enter the meal cost, and confirm. The amount is deducted instantly and the balance updates in real time.
Uniform Shop
The school store operator follows the same deduction flow under Finance → Wallet → Uniform Shop when a student collects a uniform item charged to their wallet.
Library Fees
Library staff can deduct fines or borrowing fees from a student’s wallet via Finance → Wallet → Library. This eliminates the need for cash handling in the library.
Ancillary Charges
For any other school-approved charge category, staff use Finance → Wallet → Ancillary. Each deduction records the category, amount, staff member, and timestamp for audit purposes.
Applying Discounts
Edustream lets you apply per-student discounts to accommodate staff children, siblings, scholarship holders, or any other scenario where a student should pay a reduced amount.Open the student's invoice
Go to Finance → Invoices, search for the student, and open their invoice. Click Apply Discount.
Choose the discount type
Select either a Percentage Discount or a Fixed Amount Discount:
- Percentage: Enter a percentage (e.g., 20). Edustream calculates and deducts 20% from the invoice total automatically.
- Fixed Amount: Enter a specific monetary amount (e.g., ₦5,000) to subtract from the invoice total.
Add a discount reason
Enter a reason for the discount (e.g., Staff child — 20% tuition reduction). This reason is stored on the invoice for audit and reporting purposes.
Scholarship and Fee Exemptions
For students on full or partial scholarships, or those exempted from specific charges by school policy, Edustream supports invoice-level and fee-item-level exemptions.Locate the student record
Go to Students → [Student Name] → Finance Profile. Click Manage Exemptions.
Mark the exemption
You can exempt the student from:
- Specific fee items only — for example, exempt from the Development Levy but still billed for Tuition. Toggle off each fee item the student is exempt from.
- Full invoice exemption — toggle on Full Scholarship to mark the student as exempt from all fees for the selected term. Invoices will still be generated for record-keeping, but their payable balance will be set to zero.
Record the exemption basis
Enter a note explaining the basis for the exemption (e.g., State Government Scholarship — SS2 2024/25). This is mandatory for audit compliance.
Exemptions and discounts are recorded in the Master Ledger with clear labels, so your finance reports always reconcile correctly. See Receipts & Ledger for details on how these entries appear in the ledger.