PayPal Stories Archive

A new school year is here. Teachers have set up their classrooms, parents are signing their kids up for sports and clubs – and buying the necessary supplies. Everyone wants to focus energy on helping kids succeed, not waste time on the hassles of school-related payments.

 

PayPal payment solutions make it easier for schools to collect fees and donations, and for parents to pay. A PayPal Donate button on your school website, along with links in your emails and social media posts, lets everyone in the community give with just a few clicks. With PayPal Here, schools can capture debit card, credit card, and PayPal payments at school events without worrying about managing cash and checks. And larger schools or districts can use a customizable PayPal online store to sell everything from spirit wear to event tickets.

 

Schools like Sela Public Charter School in Washington D.C. rely on PayPal to collect a wide range of school fees. “It makes my job easier because I don’t have to deposit checks,” says Sela PCS Director of Operations Sean Flora. “I have so many other things going on – using PayPal saves me a lot of time.”

Sela PCS recently added a PayPal Donate button to its website, making it easy for school community members to give. “I’m sure we’ll see an increase in donations because it’s is so easy,” Flora says. Tracking donations is also simpler now that cash and checks don’t have to be recorded by hand: “I can log in to PayPal and see who donated so we can send them thank-you cards.”

 

At Tassajara Hills Elementary School and Diablo Vista Middle School near San Francisco, a cumbersome in-person registration system frustrated parents, staff, and volunteers. Then the schools replaced it with a PayPal online store, powered by 3dcart, that let parents pay school fees and register their children online.

“Collecting funds and information for schools is complicated,” says Tom Glynn, a parent volunteer at the Tassajara Hills and Diablo Vista schools. “PayPal is helping us get there in a better way.”

Sela PCS’s Flora agrees, noting that parents and staff alike appreciate the ease of digital payments: “The money is taken out of their accounts quickly – they don’t have to wait for check deposits.” And PayPal frees up Flora’s time and energy for more important tasks, “making my job a lot easier.”