Centro Studi Italiani uses language school management software, Fidelo, to manage their student bookings. They contacted TransferMate, a partner of Fidelo, to see how the joint integration would improve their international student payments and collections.
About Centro Studi Italiani
Centro Studi Italiani is a group of Italian language schools with three locations in Italy as well as offering online courses. The school specializes in teaching the Italian language and culture to international students from multiple continents.
Fidelo is a web-based management software platform for study abroad and language schools. Their software enables smooth and effect school management. TransferMate is fully integrated with Fidelo as an upgrade option for its clients to support their international student payments.
The Challenge
Problems around payment matching are a constant challenge for many educational institutions. Disjointed systems and software make it difficult for admissions teams to accurately attribute payments to international students. The complex processes that evolve out of these disjointed systems can also increase the chance of human error.
“It was difficult for us to match bank transfers with students. For example, the parents or a friend would make the transfers without specifying the name of the actual student,” said Gloria Bastianelli, Project Co-Ordinator of Centro Studi Italiani. “We used another payment provider where the international bank transfers went directly to our bank account. However, it was difficult to match the payment to the student with that process.”
Beyond administrative issues, Centro Studi Italiani also faced both high payment charges and foreign exchange (FX) rates.
“I would say that the commission costs were one of the main issues we had with our previous provider. And then also, on the student side, having commissions for international transfers was also difficult”.
The Solution
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TransferMate and Fidelo are fully integrated and offer various payment options via booking and payment forms. Centro Studi Italiani adopted the TransferMate solution as the engine powering their international student payments.
“We first heard of TransferMate through Fidelo. Their website promoted the partnership and seemed the best fit for us. Students book through Fidelo, and TransferMate facilitates those payments for us.”
The payment booking process for the language school remains the same. Students register for language programs or online courses directly through Fidelo, and TransferMate facilitates the payment on their behalf. Confirmed payments are also directly assigned to the corresponding bookings.
With the two platforms integrated, payments for booked placements are transparent, and the manual processes are automated in a streamlined and easy-to-use environment.
“With the integration live, there’s less room for human error. The payments coming through TransferMate are directly registered in our system, making it less work for us. The reconciliation process is also automatic, so it’s a smoother process.”
For Centro Studi Italiani, the core function of TransferMate’s integration with Fidelo was easily accepting multi-currency payments from students scattered around the globe. For the students, they could pay in their local currency and see the exact amount they needed at the point of payment – meaning payments are always accurate.
“We receive all payments in euros now, which works well for us. Especially when students can send in their local currencies. The preferential exchange rates mean we save more money, and the students do too. We have students from many different continents, so for them to send in currencies from North America and Asia and for us to receive in euro is a big win, and it’s always clear for the students what they have to pay.”
The Results
When a Fidelo client uses the TransferMate integration as their payment processor, they and their students benefit from cost-effective payments and better payment tracking and matching.
Centro Studi Italiani has seen concrete evidence of these benefits. Since adopting the TransferMate integration, they have saved a lot of administration hours that are better served in other areas of the business.
“From matching payments, conducting reports, or anything like that, TransferMate saves us a lot of time. Before TransferMate, we had a person who matched the bank with the Fidelo software, and now it's automatic. And being automatic is also less risky in terms of human mistakes.”
The language school saved not just soft costs but also hard costs, thanks to TransferMate.
“With TransferMate, I would say that we're saving 2% of the costs of each application we receive.” said Gloria, finishing by stressing that “Besides saving time and money, the integration with our software is great. We can continue using Fidelo for registrations because it's all embedded.”
The Final Word
“The TransferMate integration with Fidelo makes it easier for international students to send us payments, saves us time processing them, and makes it less expensive for everyone.”
- Gloria Bastianelli, Project Co-Ordinator of Centro Studi Italiani
If you use Fidelo to manage your language school’s registrations, use TransferMate to process student payments and directly assign them to corresponding bookings. If you need any help, contact our team today.
